“There is no estate to which Satan is more opposed as to marriage.” —Martin Luther
There is nothing more dangerous to the kingdom of darkness than for Christian men and women to have good marriages and to raise godly children. This is the biggest threat to secular society and it should be the church’s number one goal to train people in this area.
“Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “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.” —Ephesians 5:21-32
The context of this passage is that it comes just after Paul is encouraging the church in Ephesus to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit and to give thanks to the Lord by singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Essentially, he’s saying get together and have church. He then uses this idea to launch into this encouragement on relationships.
The Goal of Marriage Is To Become
Paul says therefore, in other words, because of everything I just said, for this reason, man will leave his father and mother and cleave, cling to, hold fast, glue himself to, be joined with, his wife…and the two shall become one flesh.
Leave
Cleave
Become One Flesh
Marriage Should Be Between Two
“Marriage with the ungodly is expressly mentioned, because it is a frequent and deadly snare. It has done more mischief in the church of God than tongue can tell. It is the wolf which devours the lambs.” —Charles Spurgeon
The greek word for flesh “sarka”, means body. But it’s more than just what we think about, as in our physical body. It’s our being. It’s who we are.
Marriage Re-Presents The
Marriage is the first institution that God creates. Marriage is wrapped up in the basis of our identity. We were created male and female and the reason for that, found in Genesis, is that it’s not good for man to be alone. Our identity is wrapped up in our need for not just community, but for intimacy and true friendship.
“The one-flesh marital union is a signpost pointing to our relationship with Christ as our bridegroom. Once we reach the destination, however, the signpost becomes unnecessary. That one marriage—our marriage to Christ—will be so completely satisfying that even the most wonderful earthly marriage couldn’t be as fulfilling. Earthly marriage is a shadow, a copy, an echo, of the true and ultimate marriage. Once that ultimate marriage begins, at the Lamb’s wedding feast, all the human marriages that pointed to it, will have served their noble purpose and will be assimilated into the one great marriage they foreshadowed. The purpose of marriage is not to replace Heaven, but to prepare us for it.” —Randy Alcorn
We better reflect the gospel to the world by having really good marriages.
The church is called the body of Christ and when we love one another well, we are showing people the Gospel, we are demonstrating it to them.
is the Antithesis of the Gospel
The gospel is about the two becoming one, while self-centeredness is about the one becoming two.
“When two spouses each say, “I’m going to treat my self-centeredness as the main problem in my marriage,” you have the prospect of a truly great marriage.” —Tim Keller
Prayer & Journaling Prompts
1. Lord, reveal to me one area in my life that I am being self-centered?
2. Father, what is a practical thing that I can do to better serve my spouse or friends?