What Jesus Said About Marriage, Purity and SexualitySample

Protect Your Marriage

We have already dealt with several aspects of marriage, as we find it in the teachings of Jesus and Paul. Here are a few more as we look at the New Testament.

1. It is hard to over-emphasize the detrimental effect of the breakdown of marriage in our present society. "Marriage is not a liberal or conservative issue. It is a universal human issue, historically understood by basically all societies as an exclusive and permanent union between a man and a woman" (Tim Keller).

2. Biblical marriage is built on mutual respect and sacrificial love–like the love of Christ that cost Him His life (Ephesians 5:21-25). Marriage becomes a safe place when there is such sacrificial love and respect.

3. From Genesis to Revelation, there is constant warning about immorality and impurity versus fidelity and purity. Hebrews 13:4: Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. "Purity means that you decline to descend to the level of the animal kingdom" (Elizabeth Elliot).

4. Marriage has a very important role in society. A secular study researching the fall of 83 societies throughout history found that marriage breakdown was the one common denominator in all cases.