Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

Why did God Establish Marriage?

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Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. “The final and conclusive proof of all that I have been saying is in the truth that when God created us male and female and established the state of marriage, he did so for a definite purpose. What was it? It was to provide the best illustration – Ephesians 5:31-32

“The final and conclusive proof of all that I have been saying is in the truth that when God created us male and female and established the state of marriage, he did so for a definite purpose. What was it? It was to provide the best illustration in life of how God joins a man or woman to Jesus Christ and how he joins them to him forever.

Someone says, “Didn’t God create marriage so there would be children? Isn’t marriage for reproduction?” No, it is not. Oh, I know that this is one sideline of marriage, but it is secondary. If it were not, a marriage without children would be incomplete, a failure; and that is not true.

“Well, then, why did he establish it?” He established it as an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church. Paul says in Ephesians 5 that a wife is to submit to her husband “as to the Lord.” He says that a husband is to love his wife “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” He concludes by saying of marriage, “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church” (v. 32). In other words, God established marriage so that a Christian husband and a Christian wife could act out in their own relationship the relationship that Christ has to you and me and thereby point men to him as the supreme love, bridegroom, husband, protector, and provider of his church.

To marry as God intends men and women to marry is to illustrate this most sublime of relationships—the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who believe on him, and the relationship of the church to Jesus, to the one who loved us and who gave himself for us. If you see this truth, then you are well on the way to a blessed and happy marriage. For you will have the spiritual motivation and overall orientation to make a happy marriage possible.”

Boice, J. M. (2002). The Sermon on the Mount: An expositional commentary (107–108). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Christ Will Never Leave His Wife

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“Staying married, therefore is not mainly about staying in love.  It is about keeping covenant.

“Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise-the same kind Jesus made with his bride when he died for her.

Therefore, what makes divorce and remarriage so horrific in God’s eyes is not merely that it involves covenant-breaking to the spouse, but that it involves misrepresenting Christ and his covenant.

Christ will never leave his wife. Ever. There may be times of painful distance and tragic backsliding on our part.  But Christ keeps his covenant forever. Marriage is a display of that!

That is the ultimate thing we can say about it.  It puts the glory of God’s covenant-keeping love on display.”

John Piper, This Momentary Marriage:  A Parable of Permanence

Voddie Baucham Defines Biblical Love

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“Biblical love says, “I choose to love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Biblical love knows nothing of backing out when things get tough.

Biblical love gives without expecting, goes the extra mile, sacrifices for others, and views divorce as a tragic and unnecessary plague visited upon a culture that has settled for a lie.

Biblical love is not constantly seeking the emotional high that often characterizes immature relationships but instead is content with the depth and breadth that only the love of a maturing, godly relationship can provide.”

– Voddie Baucham

HT: Defending. Contending.