God's Primary Purpose in Marriage

Reading the dear old story again reminds us of God’s primary purpose in marriage. It was to make two people happy. When He linked the first man and the first woman, He did so with their best good in mind. He knew that only by sharing life together could they taste its richest joys. Nor should we overlook the fact that it was really Christ who performed that first wedding ceremony. See Colossians 1:16.

Thus, it was the first Christian marriage, a fact which lends special significance to His comments upon matrimony. The Pharisees had come to Him with the tricky question, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one?’ So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (St. Matthew 19:3-6. R.S.V.).

Thus, as on other occasions, He answered His opponents by stating that a fundamental truth—in this case that marriage was divinely intended to untie two persons for eternity.

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