Marriage Genesis to the Gospels

Marriage through the Bible

Marriage in Creation

Genesis 2:18–25 CSB

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.” The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Man was created from dirt, placed into the Garden of Eden, and given the task to work and watch (provide and protect) the garden, but had no helper. God stated this was not good. Man was meant to be in relationship, and from that point on it was for the man to leave his family and begin a new family with his wife. They were at complete peace with each other… no shame … and then we see in Genesis 1 the command to be fruitful and multiply. Marriage and sex are inter-wined and understood to be in the context of this relationship.

Marriage: 1 man (male) 1 woman (female) joined together intimately, physically (i.e. sex), mentally (i.e. emotionally), and spiritually.

It is not just good but very good (end of Chapter 1) and the blueprint as it were for how life is to be structured as God designed.All of this was before the fall in Chapter 3…

Fall of Creation and Fall of Marriage

We know then that Eve was tempted and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam was with her (Genesis 3:6). He failed in his task given by God to work and watch (provide and protect) over the Garden ( including everything in it). Then Adam called out by God to give an account blamed the woman, and then blamed God.

The Curse’s effect on Marriage

Woman’s Created purpose to be a helper is now cursed

Intensified Labor Pains

Desire fore the Husband

Husband’s Rule

Man’s Curse was work ( Provide and protect)

The earth is cursed

Work will be labored and hard

Death is now in play… return to dust

Conflict now has entered the relationship, and sin’s effects will have their toll.

Fall of Marriage

Genesis 4:19 Polygamy (Lamech two wives)

Start over

Genesis 9:22 Pornography, Voyeurism (Ham, the Father of Canaan)

Genesis 16:4 Adultery (Abram and Hagar)

Genesis 19:5 Homosexuality (Men of Sodom)

Genesis 34:2 Rape, fornication, unequal marriage (uncircumcised)

Genesis 38:9,15 Sex not honoring duty in marriage, prostitution, and incest (Onan, Spilling seed, Judah and his daughter in-law)

Genesis 39:7 Seduction (Potiphar’s Wife and Joseph)

Divorce

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 Divorce Laws

anything displeasing or indecent

Marriage in the Law

Marriage in the Prophets

Marriage in the Gospels: The Reclamation of Marriage

Matthew 19:1-12 Jesus refutes man’s understanding of divorce

Jesus quotes Genesis 1:27, 2:24

The pharisees questioned Jesus about Moses in Deuteronomy.

Matthew 19:8 CSB

He told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not like that from the beginning.

Jesus does say there are qualifications for marriage, but that is still not a free pass.

Jesus’s disciples then say that this is a hard thing, seemingly impossible

Matthew 19:10 CSB

His disciples said to him, “If the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it’s better not to marry.”

Singleness is a Gift

“Some people are not meant to marry, and if that is the case then they should accept it.”

Matthew 19:11 CSB

He responded, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.

Paul speaks at length about Singleness… as a gift…

1 Corinthians 7:7 CSB

I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.

Calvin writes:

Institutes of the Christian Religion 42. Celibacy?

The Lord affirms that continence is a special gift of God, one of a kind that is bestowed not indiscriminately, not upon the body of the church as a whole, but upon a few of its members.