Larsen Wedding

It Starts…God’s Plan

International Standard Version (Chapter 2)

Gen 2:18 Later, the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a companion that is a suitable match for him.”

Gen 2:20 but there was not found for the man any companion corresponding to 21 him, so the LORD God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man. 22 Then the Lord God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

Gen 2:24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

The Fulfilled Family (The Curse of God)

“That union is also illustrated in a brief account in 1:27–28, where they are described as being fruitful and multiplying, filling the earth, subduing it, and having dominion together as co-regents.”

Ethics for a Brave New World (Biblically, What Constitutes a Marriage?)

Genesis 24 states that because (“for this reason”) a man recognizes a particular woman as suitable to be his mate, he leaves father and mother. The word for leave (’āzab) is a very strong word that means more than simple departure. It means “to forsake, leave destitute, or refuse.” The idea is not that a husband and wife no longer can have any relationship with their parents. Rather, they recognize that their relationship to one another must have priority over all other ties. It is in this sense that they forsake or leave their parents.

Ethics for a Brave New World (Biblically, What Constitutes a Marriage?)

Marriage also involves a cleaving to one’s mate. The word for cleave (dābaq) means “to cling to, remain close, adhere, be glued firmly.” In this verse it means that once parents are forsaken, the man will not soon return to them. He will stay with his wife and direct his affection and attention to her. She will do the same to him.

When the ideas of forsaking and clinging are taken together, it becomes clear that marriage amounts to each partner committing his/her life to the other. It is a pledge to emphasize one’s mate as paramount beyond all other relations (forsaking) and to remain faithful to (cling to) him/her.

Ethics for a Brave New World (Biblically, What Constitutes a Marriage?)

How is this union brought about? It comes into being as a result of two factors. The first is the commitment of life to one another, signified by the forsaking and cleaving of the partners to one another. The second is an act of God constituting or uniting them together.

Feinberg, J. S., & Feinberg, P. D. (1993). Ethics for a Brave new world (p. 302). Crossway Books.

A Unique Vision of God’s Plan: Marriage as Metaphor of Christ and the Church

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 5)

Eph 5:28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.