First, let me begin by saying, that
as sinners, it is virtually impossible for us to imagine true marriage as God
intended it. We live in a society where nothing comes at a price anymore. We
want things to be free and without ties. As a culture, we
have made ourselves more important than anything else. We want freedom from authorities and we
are governed by self-control. Our worship is becoming more about being
entertained than bringing Glory to God. And we have idols that we worship:
Television, the Internet, & Movies. What's worse is that virtually all of the previous idols are generalized around an uninhibited flavor for sexual intercourse - which is our cultures greatest idol. So is it possible for a culture with so many preconceived notions about what "we believe" really understand the true meaning of marriage?
John Piper has this to say about
our cultural mirage of marriage, “… my own sin and selfishness and cultural
bondage makes it almost impossible for me to feel the wonder of God’s purpose
for marriage. The fact that we live in a society that can defend two men or two
women entering a sexual relationship and, with wild inconceivability, call it marriage shows that the collapse of our
culture into debauchery and anarchy is probably not far away.”[1]
Pipers idea behind writing this was in “hopes that it might wake (us) up to
consider a vision of marriage higher and deeper and stronger and more glorious
than anything in this culture… the greatness and glory of marriage is beyond
our ability to think or feel without divine revelation and without illumining
and awakening work of the Holy Spirit. The world cannot know what marriage is
without learning it from God.”[2]
So in order for us to understand
God’s intentional plan in marriage we must break ourselves away from our sinful, culturally contaminated ideas of what marriage is not intended to be. We must understand that marriage is God’s
design and it is evident through His creation. When “God created man in his own
image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And
God blessed them. And said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth…’”[3] Further, God makes it very clear in Genesis 2 that God Himself made a being perfectly suited for man – a woman. This was just after God paraded all of the animals in front of Adam. God knew that none of the animals were suitable for man! So he created women. Whew! Sigh of relief. I for one am glad He didn't choose an animal!
We must understand that God
spoke the existence of marriage into motion with his creation. God said,
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh.”[4]
Jesus reaffirms this in Matthew 19 when he says, “Have you not read that he who
created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the
two shall become one flesh?’”[5]
It is truly impossible to understand God’s plan for marriage between man and
wife, when we ignore God’s marriage between the Bridegroom (Christ) and His
Bride (the Church). Paul calls this marriage the Great Mystery. God’s truth, in Biblical marriage, is that it is for the Glory of His name! Marriage is
patterned after Christ’s relationship to his redeemed people! “Therefore, the
highest meaning and most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship
of Christ and His church on display.”[7]
This is why God created marriage in the
beginning. Marriage was
established by God and for God glory. Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave this understanding of one man and one women, "As you gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love."[8] I pray that, as Christians, we will understand that marriage is more than a legal document binding two souls together, and we will seek to understand God's true purpose for marriage as it was created to be.
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