God's Plan for Marriage

Marriage is an institution originated and ordained by God!

Genesis 2:24 CSB

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

1 man and 1 woman

BONDS - CLINGS

Not a light hold

BOND - ALL YOUR MIGHT

1 hand hold

2 hand hold

BOTH HOLDING ON!

God’s Plan vs God’s permitting

Permitting does not equal PLAN

Sin even damaged marriage.

Divorce

multiple wives

Union and Complementarity:

"One flesh":Marriage is presented as a profound union where a husband and wife become one, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Matthew 19:5 CSB

and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

Complementary roles:While both partners are equal in value, they are designed to fulfill different but complementary roles, with the husband as a leader and the wife as a helper. 

Equality and mutual submission:This complementarity is not about dominance, but about a loving partnership where each person submits to the other in different ways. 

Reflection of God's Love:

Witness to the world:.A healthy marriage, characterized by love, faithfulness, and forgiveness, serves as a powerful testimony to the love of God and His desire for relationship with humanity.

Sharing God's love:.The love and unity demonstrated in a marriage can be a powerful force for drawing others to God. 

Building God's Kingdom:

Raising godly children:Marriage is intended to be the foundation for raising children who love and serve God. 

Corporate service:Couples are called to work together, using their unique gifts, to advance God's kingdom through various forms of service, such as evangelism, worship, and acts of compassion. 

Spiritual legacy:Marriage provides an opportunity to build a lasting legacy of faith and service for future generations. 

A Lifelong Covenant:

Exclusive and permanent:God's design for marriage is for a lifelong, exclusive union between a man and a woman. 

Commitment to one another:This covenant requires commitment, faithfulness, and a willingness to work through challenges together. 

Beyond the Physical:

Spiritual growth:.Marriage can be a powerful catalyst for spiritual growth and transformation as couples learn to love, forgive, and serve one another. 

Becoming more like God:.the challenges and joys of marriage, couples can become more like Christ as they learn to love and serve with selflessness. 

NEW Testament Teaching

Ephesians 5:22–33 CSB

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.