The Sanctity of Marriage

Collins Concise Dictionary defines marriage as:

1.       The state or relationship of being husband and wife.

2.       The legal union or contract made by a man and woman to live as husband and wife.

3.       The ceremony formalising this union; wedding.

Collins Concise Dictionary defines sanctity as:

1.       The condition of being sanctified; holiness.

2.       Anything regarded as being sanctified or holy.

3.       The condition of being inviolable: the sanctity of marriage.

Where do we find the origin of marriage? Where else, but in the Bible!

Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”

Genesis 2:21-24 tell us, (21) “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. (22) Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. (23) And Adam 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.’ (24) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

The very first marriage union was between Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:20, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” God instituted marriage at the commencement of the human race! Adam and Eve were husband and wife before they sinned in the Garden of Eden.

Let’s consider verse 24 again. If a man desires a wife we are told he “...shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife...” In other words he is to start his own family unit. “...and they shall become one flesh.” God no longer sees a man and his wife just as individuals, but as “one flesh”. In God’s sight the married couple are inseparable. They are one; two parts of one whole.

Monogamy is God’s order; one man with one wife, until death breaks the marriage bond.

Polygamy, a man with more than one wife, is not God’s order.

Polyandry, a woman with more than one husband, is not God’s order.

Many instances of polygamy, a man with more than one wife, can be found in the Old Testament. These are all instances of man doing his own thing with no regard to the will of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 19 answers a question on divorce. (4) “And he answered them and said to them, ‘Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning, “made them male and female,” (5) and said “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”.’ (6) So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

When a man and a woman legally become husband and wife they become “one flesh” in God’s eyes. He blesses that marriage union; it is now inviolable in God’s sight.

Any children of this marriage are recognised as legitimate heirs of the parents.

Next blog we will look at the Biblical perspective on divorce.

Jon Peasey

[All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version]