Question: What Is
the Biblical view of Marriage?
Answer by: Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon
The institution of marriage was not something man invented for
reasons of convenience or practicality. God is the author of marriage,
and He began it the day He created woman to be a companion to man:
The lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I
will make a helper suitable for him."... So the lord God caused the
man to fall into a deep sleep.... Then the lord God made a woman
from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the
man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man."
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2:18,21-24).
We can see from this passage that marriage is designed by God and
involves certain things. First, the woman is designed to be a helper to
man and, just as obviously, the man is designed to love, nurture, and
protect the one who was taken from his own body (compare Ephesians
5:25-30). The fact that the woman was initially taken from the man’s
body and made separate from him is symbolized in a wonderful manner when
a man and a woman are joined physically in marriage.
Second, God instructs the man and woman to leave their father and
mother. This is something that can cause serious problems in a marriage
relationship if those who become married do not successfully leave their
parents in order to "cleave together" to begin their new relationship.
Third, a man and woman are to be united together "and they will
become one flesh." This physical uniting goes far beyond the physical
dimension and also involves an emotional and spiritual uniting.
Indeed, marriage itself parallels what God did through the
incarnation of Christ. What did God do in the incarnation, and what are
its results? Put simply, God Himself (Jesus Christ) left His own
"family" in heaven, came to earth, and made a public declaration of His
love for mankind at the cross. Because of this, when a person receives
Christ, he is married to Him, and there is unity, joy, and a new birth
or new life.
This spiritual reality is paralleled in the marriage of a man and
woman. A man and woman leave their family and come together at the
marriage altar, making a public declaration of love for each other. The
man is then married to his wife, and there is unity, joy, and eventually
new life.
Perhaps one reason God treats the sexual act so seriously is because
of all that it implies to what He has accomplished in the incarnation
and His relationship to the church. Thus,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself
as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love
their wives as their own bodies. ... After all, no one ever hated
his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the
church—for we are members of his body. "For this reason, a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two
will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking
about Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-32).
The spiritual aspects of marriage are far more profound than many
people might ever suspect.
God knows how He has created us, what human nature is like, what is
or isn’t in our best interest. In truth, the commands God has given are
only those for our own best welfare. A God of love would do no less (1
John 4:8).
