By Warren Coe
In 1976 Marlys and I were married. We were young and excited about the life we would share together until death do us part. I discovered then and affirm today that marriage is a gift that lasts a lifetime. The Bible, God’s Word, says that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27).
God made marriage the first building block of society. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24, 25). The law of the Old Testament placed hedges of protection around marriage and the family. “You shall not commit adultery. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…” (Exodus 20:14, 17)
Solomon elevated the beauty of a man’s love for a woman and a woman’s love for a man in the Song of Solomon. Because Jesus valued the sanctity of marriage, he criticized divorce and blamed it on a hard heart in Matthew 19:4-9. Then the Apostle Paul elevated the sacredness of marriage when he likened it to the marriage of Christ to his bride, the church. He instructs the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church in Ephesians 5:22-33.
God’s societal design for a healthy humanity has been and always will be the marriage of one man and one woman.
Village Schools of the Bible 