A Christ-centered marriage is a marriage where both the husband and wife are:

1. Focused on Christ as their Savior and Foundation of their faith and marriage.
2. Dependent upon the LORD as their Ultimate Source of love, joy, peace, provision, protection, etc.
3. Experiencing the life of Christ flowing between and through them and are growing in holiness.

Such marriages naturally (and supernaturally) experience:

1. Greater transformation, effectiveness in ministry, and greater Christ-likeness.
2. Increasing harmony, intimacy, and oneness.
3. Deeper happiness, joy; and inner peace regardless of external circumstances.

Marriage was established for God’s glory. Therefore, it is to be regarded and kept holy. The LORD instituted marriage before man knew any sin and sanctified it by Christ’s gracious appearance at a wedding in Cana of the Galilee. It is commended in Holy Scripture as honorable in all, and consecrated as signifying the mystical union between Christ and His Church.

Marriage was ordained by God for the following reasons:⤒🔗

• For the life-long companionship, help, and comfort, which husband and wife ought to have of each other.
• To cleanse His Body (the Church), which He saved in Christ.
• For the continuation of the holy ordinance of family life.
• For the well-being of human society which can only be strong and happy where the marriage bond is held in honor.
• To serve as a parable of Christ’s relationship with His Bride, the Church; all and ultimately for His own glory.

Let me make a few additional comments to help us think biblically about marriage:

1. Marriage is a Sacred Trust!←↰⤒🔗

Simply put, marriage is God’s gift to man. Marriage is God’s idea! Man did not institute marriage. God did. At the end of each creation day, the Lord looked back and gave commentary on His own work. The Bible gives us a glimpse of this in the phrase which appears several times in Genesis 1, “And God saw that it was good” (vv. 4, 9, 12, 18, 21, 25). All this leads us to a climax in verse 31 where Scripture records, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31).

Here we need to note, on one hand, that when the LORD God calls something “good,” that means it’s REALLY GOOD! Adam could not have had it better! Or could he? On the other hand, when the LORD God says something is “not good,” that means it’s REALLY BAD!

Thus, in a dramatic and almost a surprising turn of events, we read in the following chapter, ‘Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him”’ (Genesis 2:18). The LORD, noticed that something (rather someone) was lacking in Adam’s life in spite of all the rich and wonderful blessings that he was given to enjoy in the Garden of Eden. He needed a “helper” or a companion corresponding (suitable) to him. “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:21-23). Notice that Adam was asleep when the woman was being formed out of his ribs and when she was brought to him. Adam was a passive participant in this entire exercise. He simply received his wife, Eve as a gift from the hand of a loving God, YAHWEH. The LORD God came up with the idea of marriage and He executed it on Adam’s behalf.

2. Marriage is a Mysterious Bond!←↰⤒🔗

Something mysterious happens when a man takes a woman to be his wife. A real and yet mysterious bond is created when a man and a woman committed to love each other for the rest of their lives join their hearts in holy matrimony. Something divine takes place that cannot be explained any other way.

It should therefore be no surprise to us to read of Adam’s initial reaction when he saw the woman whom the LORD God had made and brought to him. The text reads, ‘Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”’ (Gen. 2:23). Notice Adam’s language here, “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...” What had happened to him? In an instant, Adam became a romantic genius and got poetic! One minute, he is looking around and all he could see were these plants and animals that God had created, birds singing and flying around. The next minute, he wakes up from his sleep and he sees this beautiful figure beside him. Dazzled by her beauty, he yells, “Woo – Man!” His world is totally transformed for the better. Following this, we read, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).

3. Marriage is A Solemn Bond (or a Covenant of Love)!←↰⤒🔗

Marriage is serious! It is therefore, not to be entered upon lightly or unadvisedly, but thoughtfully, reverently and in the fear of the Lord with due consideration of the purpose for which it was ordained. Answering a question from the Pharisees concerning divorce, the Lord Jesus Christ quotes the Genesis account of the institution of marriage. Then adds the following words, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:9). A real, mysterious and inseparable union exists between a husband and his wife and vice versa for as long as they both remain alive. A similar, but an infinitely greater union exists between Christ and His Bride, the Church which He purchased with His own blood. Both are not to be tampered with. Anyone who tampers with either of these divinely instituted relationships foolishly but surely makes himself an object of divine wrath.

Marriage – An Institution Under Attack!←⤒🔗

YET, this holy and divine institution is under fierce assault today – not only among unbelievers, but sadly, even among those who claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. What’s gone wrong? It seems to me that a number of things have gone wrong – all of which are rooted in the main problem that has plagued all of mankind since the Fall, namely sin. Among them include, the deteriorating of biblical standards; the rise of individualism and man’s quest for autonomy (self-rule); the rise of feminism; constant attempts to redefine marriage in humanistic terms, etc. All these are direct affronts at God and His good, unique and divine design for marriage.

BUT God’s Purposes Will Not Be Thwarted!←⤒🔗

In a generation where so many men and women are unduly delaying marriage, the Lord is still raising young men and women who are willing to take bold steps and trust the Lord with their lives and are getting married convinced that God’s way is always best! In an age when so many children are growing up in broken homes as divorce is on the rise (even in the church), the LORD is building and protecting so many marriages where Christ is clearly at the center – galvanizing the relationship and causing both husbands and wives to thrive in the midst of difficulties. You will read about some of those marriages in this issue. When so many men and women have resorted to unholy lifestyles choosing to follow their own desires rather than the clear commands of God regarding sexuality, the Lord is raising up a people (young and old) who are resolved to live holy lives (in marriage and outside marriage) to the glory of God. All this, because of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for His own over 2000 years ago both in His perfect life and in His atoning death on Calvary’s cross. That is worth celebrating!

While acknowledging that some are called to singleness, we affirm based on Scripture that marriage is normative for all mankind.