What is Marriage?

Answer: Marriage is the Life Long Union between a man and a woman whom God has "Joined Together":  "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.'"  (Matthew 19:4-7)

Here we see that Marriage according to God, is a Fundamental Institution, Instituted by God Himself.  In fact, it was the First Institution that God Established on Earth, even before the Church and Government.

God first created "man" and he created "man" to be male and female:  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."  (Genesis 1:27-28)

God first created Man and since man himself did not have a "helper fit for him," God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and while Adam slept God took one of Adam's ribs and made it into a "Woman."  Then God brought this New Creation to man.  The man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.  And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed."  (Genesis 2: 23-24)

The entire issue of Marriage and Sex is very complex. I hope to analyze it on this web-site.

The major question with respect to Marriage is this: 'What does "God Join together?" and what doesn't He, in the Union of man and woman?  Of course, in this respect, there can be no "union" between "man and man," or "woman and woman" in homosexuality, that is totally impossible,  even though I believe there should be laws in the Civic realm, to accommodate such unions, which we must address later, because right now, it is beyond the study we are engaged in.

We know, even when a man copulates with a prostitute the "two become one:"  "Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her?  For, as it is written, 'The two shall become one flesh."  But, is it possible that when a man copulates with a prostitute, that this is "marriage" in God's sight?  Personally, I don't think so.  It is a sin certainly of fornication, but it is not a "marriage." This, to me, is not what "God has joined together," but what Satan has joined together.  But, this possibly is beyond my wisdom right now and we need to study the Old Testament and such books especially as Leviticus.

Luther said this in "Table Talk": God makes no distinction between Fornication and Adultery, in the letters of St. Paul. In other words, Fornication is Adultery and Adultery is Fornication. In Fact, Christ Himself also said that if a man even "lusts in his heart," it is still adultery.

In the pornographic movies that I have seen, almost never is the act of coition fulfilled. Usually the male actors masturbate upon the woman, in order to complete what would otherwise be coition, or union between a man and a woman..  I could be wrong, but I think that it is because they realize that to complete coition with a woman is to "become one," and I don't really think they want to do so.

In the Old Testament, it tells us that if a man copulates with a virgin who is not betrothed, then the man is bound to the woman:  "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall give the marriage present for her, and make her his wife."  (Exodus 22:16)  This then is the first binding union, or "marriage" between a man and a woman, when a man copulates with a virgin who is not betrothed.  If the virgin is betrothed at this time, then it would be adultery and we would have to go to different laws.

Ok, now we enter the analysis of Marriage.  Here, we have a lot of analysis to find out what God originally meant by "Marriage" before Sin entered into the picture. And then, we will have to understand marriage on two different levels, The first is, what God originally intended, and the second is, The "Secular Law" with respect to what God, through Moses allowed for man:  Here, in brief, is how Christ explained it:  "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.  They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?' He said to them 'For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastely and marries another commits adultery."

So, you see that, for "Hardness of Heart," God, through Moses allowed for "Divorce."  But Originally, this is not what God wanted. As it says in Malachi: 2:16: "For I hate divorce. says the Lord the god of Israel."

You see, at this time in history, much like our own time, people were marrying and divorcing for superficial reasons. They really didn't take the Institution of Marriage as seriously as they should have.

When God said in Genesis that:  "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh,"  there is a very Profound meaning to this that most people do not understand.  In the same way that Adam and Eve were "meant for each other" by God, also every man and the Ideal Mate are also "meant for each other." It is very clear in Scripture that God selects a man and a woman to be together exactly in the same way that God gave Eve to Adam.

However, in Genesis, God says through Moses that:  "The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took to wife such of them as they chose."  (Genesis 6:2)  It is clear from this passage that men at this time were choosing women who were not meant for them, but rather out of lust, they had decided to choose whomever they wished. There are comments often made in society, such as "They were meant for each other," and "a marriage made in Heaven."  These comments refer to persons whom God has brought together in Marriage.

In the same way that God chooses a Mother and a Father for an individual, God also chooses a Mate for each individual.

But often, the persons that God has intended to be together according to the "Will of God's Good Pleasure," do not wish to fulfill this union.  Then you have what is called in history, "Unhappy Love."

Now, this phenomenon is world-wide and is the inspiration for many great aesthetic works, in literature, in music and in poetry.  It can be a very difficult thing to deal with.

Now, in this day and age, we totally misunderstand the Institution and Sanctity of Marriage due to the so-called "sexual revolution."

The so-called "Sexual Revolution" does not not understand Marriage, or what is it all about.

All for now, but I ASSURE YOU that we will have all more to say when we expand our web-site to include more about Marriage.