Who Defines Marriage?

I love stories, and I pay special attention to how stories begin. The first page of a book or the opening scene of a movie determines whether or not I’m hooked. Will I keep reading or watching?

James Barrie’s Peter Pan grabs the reader with the first line, “All children, except one, grow up.”[i] In the same way, the Lion King explodes onto the screen with a sunrise over the African plains, accompanied by an African chant that none of us understand and yet we all recognize as the first verse of The Circle of Life.

The first two chapters of the Bible launch the greatest story ever told and immediately communicate two weighty truths for every home: (1) Marriage was designed with sacred intention, and (2) God is the divine designer. Our hopes to celebrate worship, missions & discipleship within marriage are founded upon our belief that the Lord fashioned each person in our home in his image and for his purposes.

This is the beginning of the story; not just the creation of the heavens and the earth, not just the creation of man and woman, but the creation of the family. In the beginning, God created the family.

Jesus clearly recognized this spectacular truth about the origin of family and marriage.

When the Pharisees came to Jesus to test him about divorce, Jesus immediately brought it back to how it was in the beginning. He quoted Genesis 2:24 to emphasize the doctrine of one flesh and then said that their current practice of divorce was not in the original design (Matthew 19:3-8).[ii]

When discussing marriage and divorce, Jesus turned the conversation back to the beginning of the story, giving his audience a renewal of the vows, so to speak, calling for a return to the original purpose of marriage.

We see the power of this whenever someone we know renews their wedding vows. Have you seen this? Have you seen the impact of a couple who has been married for decades, a couple who, between their wedding day and today has gone through storms of conflict and seasons of silence, stand up before their friends and family and say to one another, once again, their wedding vows? It’s a return to the beginning; a reminder of their original intent, their first prayer for their family, the foundation they began with and have been building on ever since.

If we’re going to lay a Biblical foundation for marriage, we must follow Jesus’ example of focusing on the beginning design of the family. Perhaps then we will catch God’s vision for our homes.

(taken from Gospel Family)