Orthodox Concept of Marriage

The purpose of Marriage

Questions:

What do you think the purpose of Marriage is?

What positive/negative impressions do you have of marriage?

Sacraments of the church are how we experience the presence of God....(Grace = Presence)

Eucharist / thanksgiving is where we unite with God as a foretasting of what is to come in eternal life.

All Sacraments are working towards our salvation

Marriage is therefore working towards our individual salvation

But How does marriage work towards my salvation

Establishing the union

Genesis 2:24 NKJV

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Joined / cleaved / stick / hold / united in an unbreakable way

This bond is consistent with two other unbreakable bonds.

Members of the trinity

Christ and the church

Ephesians 5:23 (NASB95)

23 ... Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

Marriage is a covenantal relationship that mirrors the relationship between the Trinity and Christ and the church.

Father Son and HS will never separate

without Christ there can be no church

Matthew 19:4–6 NKJV

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

A covenantal relationship communicates to the other that I am sealing off all my other options in life and solely committed to you…NO MATTER WHAT!

ex: Allow Sarah to take the brunt of my bad decisions know she was stuck with me…But with others knowing they could leave I put my best foot forward. (Share later)

It is in a covenantal relationship that we find security allowing our true selves come out.

Becoming one flesh

Its essential to establish a covenantal mindset because the growth into one flesh trying and long.

St. Paul describes what is required of husbands and wives

Ephesians 5:22–24 NKJV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

What are your responses/reactions to the verses?

Why is the idea of submission to a husband (or anyone) alarming?

Ephesians 5:25–29 NASB95

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,

What is required of the husband?

In order to accomplish what is commanded, how will he have to live towards his wife? SACRIFICIAL

It is in the sacrifice for the other, especially in the times we don’t feel like loving our spouses, that love is seen in the marriage. “Husbands ‘ought’ to love their wives...

Love is an action, not an emotion, but love the action overtime and through the challenges of marriage and what it is to know (intimately) someone else allows us to experience love the feeling.

The sacrifice for your spouse, is on par with the other spiritual practices that guard us from self-seeking behaviors that can become destructive.

Now, Women, how do you feel about submitting to someone who has your salvation as his top priority. Who will have to sacrifice, whether he feels like it or not.

Orthodox Crowning Ceremony

The crowning ceremony revolves around this idea of preparing the two to sacrifice for each other.

Crowns of ....

blessing and salvation

Joy and happiness

virtue and justice

wisdom and understanding hearts

comfort and confirmation

everlasting glory