Question
What details does the bible contains about marriage?
Answer
In the Bible, we have all that we need to know about marriage. Rather than being a social convention implemented by men, marriage is a Divine arrangement that is best for individuals, families, societies and nations. Since God has created us, it is He who can best tell us how we should live and specifically about the nature, purpose and governing rules of marriage.
In the beginning, we come to understand the purpose of marriage. It is given to men and women, so that both can provide that which the other lacks. It is also given so there might be a stable environment for the raising of children. The man provides loving leadership while the woman provides loving submission and nurture to children.
GEN 2:18 ¶ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
GEN 2:19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
GEN 2:20 And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
GEN 2:21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place.
GEN 2:22 And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
GEN 2:23 And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
GEN 2:24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
GEN 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
The order of the home where the man is charged to be the head of his wife and the wife is to be submissive to the man is of Divine origin and reflects the basic relationship between the Father and Jesus. Although the man is to be head, he should manifest love toward his wife. And although the wife should be submissive, she should be able to openly communicate and participate in the relationship, not as inferior but as a fellow heir to the grace of life.
1CO 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
EPH 5:22 ¶ Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
EPH 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
EPH 5:24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
EPH 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her;
EPH 5:26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
EPH 5:27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.
EPH 5:28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
EPH 5:29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
EPH 5:30 because we are members of His body.
EPH 5:31 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.
EPH 5:32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
EPH 5:33 Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.
GAL 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
As to the duration of marriage, God intended that men and women, when once married, stay together for life. The only exception given to this is if one of the mates commits fornication (sexual relations with another besides the mate). However, too often, when sin invades a marriage and divorce is contemplated and then remarriages, it can become almost impossible to sift out the situations so that we truly know whether it is “right” to remarry. However, the Scriptures that we must understand and apply are found below.
ROM 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
ROM 7:2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
ROM 7:3 So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
ROM 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.
MAT 19:3 ¶ And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?”
MAT 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
MAT 19:5 and said,’ For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’?
MAT 19:6 “Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
MAT 19:7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
MAT 19:8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
MAT 19:9 “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
MAT 19:10 The disciples said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.”
MAT 19:11 But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given.
MAT 19:12 “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”
MAT 5:31 “And it was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’;
MAT 5:32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
1CO 7:10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband
1CO 7:11 (but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away.
1CO 7:12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away.
1CO 7:13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away.
1CO 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
1CO 7:15 Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.
1CO 7:16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
Marriage is one of the most serious aspects of life we can consider because it affects more than just one life, but many. We should carefully consider our actions of either entering into marriage or trying to end a marriage and start another in light of these Scriptures. They are challenging to our understanding and also to knowing how to apply them.
By Gary Hunt
