What Is The Biblical Definition Of A Christian Marriage, According To Scripture
Is it any different from a non-religious one?
pexels In many cultures, marriage is viewed as an important event between two people.
Whether it’s highly traditional like in China or eloping in Las Vegas, getting married will certainly make an impact on your life.
Aside from the drunken elopers, it’s a decision that people take seriously and a lot of thought and planning goes into it.
There are so many things to decide. What kind of cake, what kind of food, who’s invited and perhaps most important of all, what kind of dress?
They’re all questions that require answers throughout the process of planning a wedding.
But after the festivities are over and you’re officially husband and wife, what will your marriage look like?
Some people get sucked into the allure of being married. They love the idea of having a fabulous wedding and the glamour of it all.
It’s similar to when someone’s in love with falling in love rather than actually being in love. Then if someone like that gets married, it won’t be too long until they get divorced.
When it comes to religious beliefs, the most common one that comes to mind when it comes to marriage is Christianity.
Two people getting married in a church, passages being read from the Bible and maybe even an organ playing.
These are all things you imagine in a traditional wedding. But if the two people getting married are both Christians (or even if only one is), what should their marriage look like, according to the Bible?
For one, it does say in the Bible that marriage is between a man and a woman. It all starts in the beginning in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
As the beginning goes, Eve was made from and for Adam, so the idea that the two will come together and become one is something of a return to that original state.
Now, I’m not here to debate same-sex marriage and the Bible. You can take that up with the crazy sign guy on the corner shouting condemnation.
Instead, I’d like to point out a few more verses that tell us what a Christian marriage should look like.
1. Submission and respect must be there.
Firstly, it’s all about respect. Ephesians 5:33: “Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; let the wife see that she respects her husband.”(WEB)
If you can’t even respect each other, what makes you think that this marriage would work, let alone one based on faith?
2. Both spouses are in it for life.
Then, marriage is also about commitment. Ecclesiastes 9:9: “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.” (WEB)
This means that you are committed to one another for the rest of your lives.
3. Readiness levels should play a role.
If you think the rest of your life is too much, then really you probably shouldn’t get married at all, but for a Christian, marriage is a sacred bond that should not be easily broken.
Matthew 5:31-32: “31 It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce, 32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.”
So unless one of you cheats, take your problems to a marriage counselor instead of a lawyer.
4. There's no such thing as a practice marriage among Christians.
When it comes to marriage in Christianity, the new-formed bond between man and woman is absolute and should not be taken lightly.
If you take nothing else from this, remember this verse that comes from Colossians 3:14: “Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.” Love is strong. Count on it and your faith to keep you together."
Jesse Oakley is a writer who writes about love, relationships, self-care and spirituality/astrology.