Purpose of marriage

1. Marriage is part of God’s plan for the human race

1-1: From creation

Matthew 19:4 NKJV

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’

See also ; Man and woman are not independent of each other.

1-2: It is to provide companionship

Genesis 2:18 NKJV

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

See also ; ;

It is to be a committed, exclusive relationship

Genesis 2:23–24 NKJV

And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

See also ; ;

It is a lifelong partnership

Matthew 19:6 NKJV

So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

See also ;

It is the intended context for raising children

Malachi 2:15 NKJV

But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

See also

It will not exist in the life to come

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Marriage as a covenant relationship

Malachi 2:14 NKJV

Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant.

See also ;

Sex and marriage

Sex belongs within marriage

1 Corinthians 7:9 NKJV

but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

See also

Men who violated virgins were expected to marry them:

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A woman was expected to be a virgin when she married.

The sexual relationship is exclusive

Song of Solomon 2:16 NKJV

My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies.

See also Marital unfaithfulness is condemned; ; ;

Love and submission in marriage

Falling in love prior to marriage

Genesis 29:20 NKJV

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

See also ;

Husbands are to love their wives

Ephesians 5:25 NKJV

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

See also ; ; ; ; ; ;

Wives are to submit to their husbands

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See also ; ;

Celibacy as a calling from God

1 Corinthians 7:7–8 NKJV

For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am;

See also ; ; Whilst Paul commends the unmarried state, for those not so called it is no sin to marry;