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The institution of marriage originated when God created a woman for the man, fashioning her to physically complement the man for the purpose of procreation. Thus, they become “one flesh.”
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The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him”…The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. - Genesis 2:18, 23-24
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‘…and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. - Mark 10:8
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The “one flesh” relationship precludes polygamy, polyamory, and other aberrant forms of “marital” relationships.
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. - 1 Kings 11:1-6
“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
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A Christian marriage involves a believing husband and wife covenanting with God before His Church for a union of love and fidelity.
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” - Matthew 5:31-32
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” - Mark 10:2-12
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A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. - 1 Corinthians 7:39
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To glorify God by filling the earth with His image.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:26-27
Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. - ​Psalms 72:19
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A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. - 1 Corinthians 11:7​​
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To create a “one flesh” relationship between a husband and a wife to raise up godly generations.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” - Genesis 1:28
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. - Genesis 2:23-24
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. - Malachi 2:15​
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To depict the virtuous Church that is the Bride of Christ. Eph 5:31-32; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev 21:2, 9
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. - Ephesians 5:31-32​
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I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. - 2 Corinthians 11:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband… One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” - Revelations 21:2, 9
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Husbands and wives should mutually submit to one another just as the Church submits to Christ. Eph 5:21-24
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. - Ephesians 5:21-24
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Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church, and wives should respect their husbands.
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Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. - Ephesians 5:25-28​
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Parents should mutually support each other in raising their children. Deut 6:4-9; Eph 6:4
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Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. - Deuteronomy 6:4-9
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Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. - Ephesians 6:4
How can I learn more?
Below are video resources on marriage:
The Purpose of Marriage
Run Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes and 25 seconds
Sermon begins: 52:57
Heavenly Marriage
Run Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes and 51 seconds
Sermon begins: 55:48
Heavenly Marriage
Run Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes and 31 seconds
Sermon begins: 49:18