GOD
CREATED MARRIAGE
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Genesis 1: 26 God said, Let Us [Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them
have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the
[tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon
the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of
God He created him; male and female He created them. This is how the first man (ADAM) was created.
·
Genesis 2: 7 Then the Lord God formed man from
the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of
life, and man became a living being. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden toward
the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed
(framed, constituted).
GOD’s VIEW
ON MARRIAGE:
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Genesis 2: 18 Now the Lord God said, It is not
good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable,
adapted, and complementary) for him.
·
Genesis 2: 21 And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part
of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh. 22 and the rib or part of his
side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a
woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 Then Adam said this [creature] is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she
was taken out of a man. This is how
the first woman (EVE) was created.
·
Hebrews 13:4 - let marriage be held in honor in
all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept un-dishonored);
for God will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and
adulterous. God’s thought about
marriage.
Marriage is a triangle—with husband and wife at the bottom corners and the Lord at the top.
The book of Ecclesiastes conveys a similar truth when Solomon talks about the strength of a three‐stranded cord (4:12). If we invite the Lord into our marriage and trust in His strength, we can experience strength and peace in our marriage regardless of the circumstances.
GOD’s
WARNINGS ON MARRIAGE:
·
1st Corinthians 7:5 Do not refuse and deprive
and defraud each other [of your due marital rights], except perhaps by mutual
consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves unhindered to prayer.
But afterwards resume marital relations, lest Satan tempt you [to sin]
through your lack of restraint of sexual desire.
·
Malachi 2:13 (B) - the Lord does not regard
your offering any more or accept it with favor at your hand. 14 yet you ask,
Why does He reject it? Because the Lord was witness [to the covenant made at
your marriage] between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have
dealt treacherously [unfaithfully] and to whom you were faithless [unfaithful].
Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your marriage
vows]. 15 And did not God make [you and your wife] one [flesh]? Did not one
make you and preserve your spirit alive? And why [did God make you two] one?
Because He sought a godly offspring [from your union]. Therefore take heed to
yourselves, and let no one deal treacherously and be faithless to the wife of
his youth. 16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I hate divorce and marital
separation and him who covers his garment [his wife] with violence. Therefore
keep a watch upon your spirit [that it may be controlled by My Spirit], that
you deal not treacherously and faithlessly [with your marriage mate]. 17 You
have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say in what way have we wearied
Him? [You do it when by your actions] you say, everyone who does evil is good
in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or [by asking], Where is the
God of justice?
·
1Peter 3:7 In the same way you married men
should live considerately with your wives, with an intelligent recognition [of
the marriage relation], honoring the woman as [physically] the weaker, but
realizing that you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your
prayers may not be hindered and cut off. [Otherwise you cannot pray
effectively.]
LORD
JESUS EXPLAINS ABOUT MARRIAGE & DIVORCE:
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Matthew 5:31 it has also been said, whoever
divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. 32 But I tell you,
whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds
of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and
whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.
·
Matthew 19:3 And Pharisees came to Him and put
Him to the test by asking, Is it lawful and right to dismiss and repudiate and
divorce one's wife for any and every cause? 4 He replied, Have you never read
that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united
firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man put asunder (separate). 7 They said to Him, Why then did
Moses command [us] to give a certificate of divorce and thus to dismiss and
repudiate a wife? 8 He said to them, Because of the hardness (stubbornness and
perversity) of your hearts Moses permitted you to dismiss and repudiate and
divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been so [ordained]. 9 I
say to you: whoever dismisses (repudiates, divorces) his wife, except for unchastity,
and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman
commits adultery. 10 The disciples said to Him, If the case of a man with his
wife is like this, it is neither profitable nor advisable to marry.
·
Mark 10:
2 And some Pharisees came up, and, in order to test Him and try to
find a weakness in Him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate
and divorce his wife? 3 He answered them, What did Moses command you? 4 They
replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and to put her away. 5
But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this
precept in your Law. 6 But from the beginning of creation God made them male
and female. 7 For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently, 8 And the two
shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What
therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide. 10
And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject. 11 And He
said to them, Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery
against her; 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she
commits adultery.
ST.
PAUL’s INSTRUCTIONS TO MARRIED PEOPLES:
·
1st Corinthians 7:10 But to the married people
I give charge--not I but the Lord--that the wife is not to separate from her
husband. 11But if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her
husband. And [I charge] the husband [also] that he should not put away or
divorce his wife. 12 To the rest I declare--I, not the Lord [for Jesus did not
discuss this]--that if any brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ]
and she consents to live with him, he should not leave or divorce her. 13 And
if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, she
should not leave or divorce him.
·
1st Corinthians 7:39 A wife is bound to her
husband by law as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married
to whom she will, only in the Lord.
·
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is head of the
wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body.
·
Ephesians 5:28 Even so husbands should love
their wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife
loves himself. 29 For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and
carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, 30 Because we
are members (parts) of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his
father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh.
God’s instructions to Husband
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God’s instructions to Wife
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Genesis 2: 24 - Therefore a man shall leave
his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and
they shall become one flesh.
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James 4:4 - you [are like] unfaithful wives
[having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to
God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So
whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of
God.
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Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a
good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
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Proverbs 12: 4 A virtuous and
worthy wife is a crowning joy to her husband, but she who makes him ashamed
is as rottenness in his bones.
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Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife
whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the
sun--all the days of futility. For that is your portion in this life and in
your work at which you toil under the sun.
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Proverbs 19: 14 House and riches
are the inheritance from fathers, but a wise, understanding, and prudent wife
is from the Lord.
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1st Corinthians 7:3 The husband should give
to his wife her conjugal rights (goodwill, kindness, and what is due her as
his wife), and likewise the wife to her husband.
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1st Corinthians 7:4 For the wife does not
have [exclusive] authority and control over her own body, but the husband
[has his rights]; likewise also the husband does not have [exclusive]
authority and control over his body, but the wife [has her rights].
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Ephesians 5:33 (A) However, let each man of
you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own
self;
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Ephesians 5:33 (B) And let the wife see that
she respects and reverences her husband.
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Titus 2:2
Urge the older men to be temperate,
serious, sensible, self-controlled, and sound
in the faith, in the love, and in the steadfastness and patience [of Christ].
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Titus 2:3 Bid the older women similarly to be
reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred
service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and
be
teachers of what is right and noble, 4 So
that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind and
to love their husbands and their children, 5 To be self-controlled, chaste,
homemakers, good-natured, adapting and subordinating themselves to their
husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or
discredited).
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Titus 2:
6 In a similar way, urge the younger men to be self-restrained and
to behave prudently [taking life seriously]. 7 And show your own self in all
respects to be a pattern and a model of good deeds and works, teaching what
is unadulterated, showing gravity [having the strictest regard for truth and
purity of motive], with dignity and seriousness.
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1Peter 3: 7 In the same way you married men should live
considerately with [your wives], with an intelligent recognition, honoring
the woman as the weaker, but realizing that you are joint heirs of the grace
of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off.
[Otherwise you cannot pray effectively.]
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1Peter 3:1 3IN LIKE manner, you married
women, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any do not obey
the Word of God, they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly]
lives of their wives, 2 When they observe the pure and modest way in which
you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence.
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1Peter 3: 3 Let not yours be the merely external
adorning with [elaborate] interweaving and knotting of the hair, the wearing
of jewelry, or changes of clothes; 4 But let it be the inward adorning and
beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading
charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is very precious in the sight of
God. 5 For it was thus that the pious women of old who hoped in God were
[accustomed] to beautify themselves and were submissive to their husbands. 6
It was thus that Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him lord. And you are now her
true daughters if you do right and let nothing terrify you.
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Conclusion:
1Peter 3:8 Finally, all should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit),
sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one
household], compassionate and courteous (tenderhearted and humble). 9 Never
return evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary blessing. For
know that to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a
blessing. 10 For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days keep his
tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery, deceit). 11 Let him
turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for
peace and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God,
with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!] 12 For the
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright and in right
standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of
the Lord is against those who practice evil.