Modern Woman. Modern Life. And GodSample

God’s Plan for Marriage

God’s plan for marriage is introduced (Ge 2:24) and repeated in the Gospels (Mt 19:5) and in the Epistles (Eph 5:31). Marriage was perfect in its establishment: one man and one woman in a lifetime commitment.

God never intended for man to be alone (Ge 2:18). The very bone from which woman was crafted came from man (Ge 2:23). Woman was taken out of man, then presented to man in order to complete him. God created the man and the woman in his image (Ge 1:26) with physical and emotional needs that only another human being could meet (Ge 2:18).

No parents were in Eden, but God’s plan extended to the future with his formula for oneness in marriage. The partners are to “leave” their parents and “cleave” in order to become one (Ge 2:24 KJV). They are to be willing to lay aside all that pertains to their old loyalties and lifestyles of separate goals and plans and be joined to one another. This clinging refers to a strong, enduring bond—making one unit bound together by unconditional commitment, love and acceptance—resulting in a combined unit much stronger than either individual had been separately (Ecc 4:9–12).

No other human relationship, not with parent or child, is to supersede the bond between husband and wife. Marriage is a covenant commitment—a vow made to God and the partner, not only to love but also to be faithful and to endure in this lifelong exclusive relationship (Mt 19:6).

Marriage is a threefold miracle. It is a biological miracle by which two people actually become one flesh; it is a social miracle through which two families are grafted together; it is a spiritual miracle in that the marriage relationship pictures the union of Christ and his bride, the church (Eph 5:23–27). God clearly intended transparency and openness as part of his plan for the marriage relationship— vulnerability without shame (Ge 2:25).