Anthropology: Marriage And Divorce
Anthropology: Marriage and Divorce
Marriage is an institution under siege today, and only a return to the biblical foundation of these God-given institutions will reverse the decline of marriage and the family in our culture today. With this in mind, we must first look at Gen. 2:18, 21-24. “The Lord God said; it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man 's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. For this reason a man will leave …show more content…
The following are especially profound in reference to a successful biblical marriage. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior” (Ephesians 5:22-23). “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, after all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:28-29). “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31). As we can see, a biblically based marriage is one that is in balance, with Christ as the head of the man and the wife together.
In the pre-Mosaic period, divorce was common among the heathen nations. A man could divorce his spouse for any reason simply by telling her before witnesses, “You are no longer my wife”.1 The practice of easy divorce became common among the Hebrews, encouraged by the absence of regulations restricting it. In His comments on divorce, Jesus explained that divorce represents a change in God’s order because, “from the beginning it was not so” (Matt 19:8). He further observed
Marriage is an institution under siege today, and only a return to the biblical foundation of these God-given institutions will reverse the decline of marriage and the family in our culture today. With this in mind, we must first look at Gen. 2:18, 21-24. “The Lord God said; it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man 's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. For this reason a man will leave …show more content…
The following are especially profound in reference to a successful biblical marriage. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior” (Ephesians 5:22-23). “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, after all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:28-29). “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31). As we can see, a biblically based marriage is one that is in balance, with Christ as the head of the man and the wife together.
In the pre-Mosaic period, divorce was common among the heathen nations. A man could divorce his spouse for any reason simply by telling her before witnesses, “You are no longer my wife”.1 The practice of easy divorce became common among the Hebrews, encouraged by the absence of regulations restricting it. In His comments on divorce, Jesus explained that divorce represents a change in God’s order because, “from the beginning it was not so” (Matt 19:8). He further observed