Marriage: It should be so simple. Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Husband and wife make a promise “until death do us part.” They make a covenant, with witnesses. Confirm it publicly in a ceremony officiated by someone in authority. They speak vows of love (for better, for worse, etc.). They sign a covenant of marriage. They are pronounced husband and wife and go on their way to much celebration of this permanent union of love.
Simple and so significant.
“And they live happily ever after,” so the romantic story of love and marriage goes.
As Christians committed to one another (as is our focus here), the covenant and truth and the love of God, the love of all other Christians, and their pledged love for each other should be reason enough for them to celebrate anniversary after anniversary as one – anniversary after anniversary as one joined as one to Christ Jesus, our Lord.
… And they live eternally ever after…
So it should be…
Yet even Christian husbands and Christian wives struggle with the truths of marriage and the consequences of sin and divorce, just like anyone else.
So rather than glossing over the Biblical model for marriage (which we will address) and pretending that Christian marriages have it all “for better and for even better” (an unrealistic fairy tale of some ideal Christian preaching), we will address the history of marriage through both the Old Testament and the New and look at some realities in the marriages of Christians through the light of scripture.
Once upon a time, we could address the issues of marriage without having to define it; but in these post-Christian times it is best that we narrow our focus sharply on the Biblical.
Marriage: in the Hebrew, multiple uses: – `ownah – halal – yabam – ba`al – ‘iysh (husband) – ‘ishshah (wife)
I am least of those to define these. There may be more, but study these and their several, related scriptures and you will begin to have an Old Testament understanding of marriage. (Please add your Comment to our site of any insight the Lord gives to you.)
Marriage: in the Greek, the language of the New Testament: gameō – and the root word: gamos.
Again, look at the scriptures and context, which we will examine in more detail next week.
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all,
and let the marriage bed be undefiled,
for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Christian Marriage: To be continued…
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