CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE (Part 2)

CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE (Part 2)

Marriage is a Permanent Committed Relationship

Matthew 19:4-6: ⁴And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,⁵ And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?⁶ Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Luke 16:18: Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

1Corinthians 7:10-11, 27: ¹⁰And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband ¹¹ But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife…²⁷Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

Here we need to be careful our choice of partner in order not to abandon the marriage along the way. A saying goes in Akan that ‘woo kor aware a, bi sa’, to wit, ‘if you are going into marriage ask/investigate’ because there is no turning back.

Importance given to Christian Marriage

Hebrew 13:4: Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Proverb 18:22: Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

Marriage is ‘honourable’ and the prohibition of it signifies relapse (1Tim. 4:3) and God also uses it to represent a union between Him and his people. In the New Testament, it represents the love of Christ for the Church (Eph. 5:25-27). It is also a good thing to find a wife and you enjoy the favour of the Lord.

Who should we Marry

We should not marry unbelievers (2Corinthians:6:14). We should not marry:  prostitutes, strange women, evil women, foolish women, quarrelsome women, adulterous woman, indecent dressing women and contentious women (Prov. 5:3, 6:24, 7:5, 7:10, 9:13, 21:9,19, 23:27, 25:24, 27:15, 30:2) but we should marry prudent women, virtuous women and submissive women (Prov. 19:14, 12:4, 14:1, 31:10-31)

How long should our Marriage Last

1Corinthians 7:3: The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Romans 7:2-3: ²For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.^3: So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Matthew19:5: And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Marriage, being a covenant, can only be broken ideally at the death of one of the partners. 

see part 3