Biblical Worldview of Marriage

Marriage


The world today picks a spouse like they pick their favorite ice cream or football team: they hope for compatibility, love, and loyalty but fin that none of these is long-lasting. Consequently, their crumbling moral foundation, which is based on a religion of self-pleasure, brings separation and divorce to more than half of those who wed. In 2007, for every 10.9 marriages per a population of 1,000, there were 5.4 divorces. In the US alone, there were 10,6000,000 single parent households.1 Unfortunately, a comparable percentage of divorce exists within our churches. One reason may be that those in the church have followed the world’s patterns and have not lived out a Biblical worldview of full commitment to their spouses, and more importantly, to God. Therefore, their commitment wanes and ebbs in perfect sync with a lack of conviction to uphold the vows they made before God and man. Following God’s principles for marriage “until death do we part” just isn’t in their worldview.

The Biblical fact that God hates divorce is ignored while couple after couple break their vows and pastors turn their heads the other way and fail to respond with proper disciplinary measure. (See Malachi 2:13-16.) A Christian worldview of marriage upholds the Biblical principle of keeping vows made both to and before a holy God, who takes these vows much more seriously than we do, as is evident in the Church.

We do not pledge our marriage vows as an experiment that is easily turned aside when things get difficult, any more than we pledge our lives to Christ as an experiment and abandon Him when “life doesn’t work out.” As our society rejects God’s design for marriage, marriage partners end up rejecting each other. In my own personal view, this “try it on” view of marriage stems from the “try it on” view that a superficial dating system provides beforehand. No commitment necessary obviously leads to no commitment ever-at least half of the time. [I have said this since I was a teenager! The whole “you’re young, date for fun, fall in love, a relationship shouldn’t be hard work but feel easy, God just wants us to be happy” mentality makes me sick. First of all, “falling in love” is NOT a biblical term or concept. I hate that term. Love is a decision, plain and simple. We shouldn’t be encouraging our young people to date unless they can say “this person would be a person that God wants me to marry and I should pursue that for his Glory to bring them and me closer to God. If this relationship doesn’t accomplish that then don’t waste you time.” You can’t find biblical support to think otherwise, I challenge you. God doesn’t “just” want us to be happy, he wants us to be holy! Second of all, every single problem in a marriage, or any relationship for that matter, stems from selfishness. “The center of sin is always I.”]

“Before this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” (Ephesians 5:31-33)