What the Bible

Teaches
about
Marriage:
The Big Picture
*
PCJB
PP Presentation
devised and prepared
at
Gujranwala Theological Seminary
may be copied for non-commercial use
only
September 2008
 To Discuss
(Let’s start at the beginning!)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Who invented Marriage?

• And why?
 How Marriage???
Some marriage books (the more
practical ones) focus on:
The “How?” questions.

How can we communicate better?

How can we resolve conflict?
Even:
How can we have a better sexual
relationship?
 What is Marriage?

Other marriage books (the more

theoretical ones) focus on:
The “What?” questions.

What is marriage?
Does it have boundaries?
Is cohabitation the same as
marriage?
 Why Marriage?
We will start with:
The “Why?” questions
(the theological issues)
To begin with,
we cannot understand
the true purpose of marriage
unless we know
what the Creator intended
when He made it.
 Why Marriage?

This is different from asking

what purpose people have when
they marry,
with their various expectations,
hopes and dreams.

Equally this is not the same as asking

what the socially accepted
purposes of marriage are.
 To Discuss
(What’s it all about?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_

• Why do people marry?

What are some of the less
obvious reasons for
getting married?

NOTE:
All Discussion Questions should be
discussed
 Expectations:
Marriage Plans
When two people enter the marital union
they do so
with an almost endless list of
expectations
They may be openly expressed or
secretly cherished,
but each of us enters the relationship
for our own reasons.
We all, consciously or unconsciously,
 Expectations
When one or more of these expectations
is not met
often the relationship flounders.

So it is a good idea to
consider
What is the purpose of marriage?
 Q 1: Why Marriage?
The Church has normally claimed that
marriage exists to meet human needs
in three main areas:
• Relational intimacy, (a Protestant
priority)
meeting a man’s need for
• Companionship
• Close friendship
 Q 1: Why Marriage?
• Procreation (Roman Catholic priority)
meeting
the social need for
– Perpetuation of the human race
and
the personal need for
– A family
 Q 1: Why Marriage?
^^
• The ‘public order’ (a secondary
issue) meeting
the pressure of the male sexual
drive
Marriage guards sexual desires from
destroying society, so that society does
not descend into sexual chaos (e.g.
AIDS).
 Drink from Your Own Well!
(- Proverbs 5:15-18)
Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own welll.
Should your streams overflow in the
streets,
your streams of water in the
public square?
Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with
strangers.
May your fountain be blessed,
 Q 2: Why Sex?

Parallel answers:
• Faithfulness rather than
Selfishness: sex is for faithful
intimacy, and intimate relationship
is a good thing.
• Children rather than
Barrenness: sex is in order to
have children, and children are a
good thing.
 Q 2: Why Sex?

There are fallacies behind both answers:

• Faithfulness in a loving human

relationship is not dependant on sex.
(cf. “the disciple whom Jesus loved”)
Never confuse “love” with “sexual desire”
simply because they are combined (rightfully)
in marriage
and (wrongfully) outside of marriage!

• Sex within marriage has a much wider

 Why Marriage & Sex?
Notice
• All the answers so far are
man-centred,
concerned with the benefits to
the man, his woman, and society?
Also:
• Is the marriage finished if either
no children come, or one partner
fails to meet the relational needs
 Why Marriage?
The most important question is not:

What should we expect from

marriage?

but rather:

For what over-riding purpose

did GOD institute marriage?
 How Marriage?

The next most important question

is:

How can WE live

a truly godly marriage?
 How Marriage?
We cannot live a truly godly
marriage
unless
we enter into
the relationship that we call
marriage
with the same goals
that the Creator had
 To Discuss
(Are we getting it right?)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• How can we discover

the goals that God wants to
achieve
in human marriage?
• Do we find them simply
by experiencing marriage itself?
• Or should we look for an answer
 Understanding What is
Taught about Marriage
Teaching:
found in various kinds of writings
from different parts of the Bible

Consider first
The Old Testament
 Marriage in the OT
The Old Testament provides
• An Account of the inauguration of
marriage
– God’s original pattern for marriage
• Examples of godly and ungodly
marriages
• Laws about marriage and its
aberrations
• Advice about marrying and
 Marriage in the OT
Note:
What the Old Testament Scriptures
teach on Marriage is presented in
various kinds of literature (genres)
e.g.:
• Narrative
• Law
• Wisdom literature
• Poetry, etc
 Marriage in the OT
Note:
Each occurrence of the marriage
topic needs the appropriate
interpretation suited
to the genre of its literary
context.
E.g.
• Creation narrative as explanatory
• Law as prescriptive
 To Discuss
(Isn’t there a one-stop answer?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_

• Why do you think

the Bible’s teaching on Marriage
is scattered around many
different books and expressed
in many different formats?
Why was it not presented as a
guide or “Manual on Marriage”
in a single book?
 Marriage in the Bible
Its Setting (Canonical
Context)
• An important topic in the Bible
set in a particular context

• The primary focus of divine

revelation:
God’s provision of salvation
in Christ
 The Bible’s Focus
The theme of the entire Bible:

The self-revelation of
the God of love.
First Expression of God’s
Love
God’s Protection from Evil:

In the garden of Eden,

God commanded that
"you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil,
for when you eat of it you will surely
die"
 Love’s Search
We are not prepared, then,
when God looks for Adam after his
sin,
calling out “Where are you?”
to discover that
God seeks Adam,
not to put him to death,
but to re-establish a relationship
with him.
 Love’s Solution

God, the Lover,

will not allow sin
to stand between Him and His
creature.

He personally bridges the gap.

 Love’s Rescue
That seeking and bridging reaches
its pinnacle when God sends his
Son into the world
to rescue sinners
and to provide them with eternal
life
(John 3:16; Rom 5:7-8; Eph 2:1-5).
John declares,
"This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down his life for
Channels of God’s Love
God first
"poured out his love into our
hearts
by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us"
(Rom 5:5).
God's love then awakens a
response
in those who accept it.
 The Setting of Marriage:
God’s Provision of
Salvation
Ultimately we cannot study
what the Bible teaches on Marriage
without asking how it relates marriage
to
God’s plan for our Salvation through
Christ.
The whole Bible speaks of this
 The Setting of Marriage
God’s Provision of
Salvation
Note:
• OT looks forward through promises and
anticipatory patterns to the Messiah
(Hebrew)
• NT looks back to their fulfilment in
Christ (Greek)

• Biblical teaching on Marriage

must be understood in this
The Setting of Marriage:
God’s Provision of
Salvation
Christ
is at the centre
of
the meaning and purpose
of
Marriage
 God’s Plan
God’s plan of salvation through
Christ
depends for its fulfilment
on
the proclamation of the Gospel
through
the mission of Christ’s Church
in obedience to
 To Discuss
(Getting focused)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__

• Why is it more important to ask

about
the “why” of marriage
before we tackle
the “what” and the “how”?

• How do you think of

Christ
as being at the centre of
a Christian marriage?
 Next Session
Genesis 1
Man Made
in
God’s Image
 Why We Begin With
Genesis
• Why start with “At the beginning of
Genesis? creation God
• Jesus did (Mk. made them male
10:6ff and and female [Gen
Matt. 19:4ff) 1:27]… and the
two will become
one flesh. [Gen
2:24]”
The End