WHAT IS TRUE MARRIAGE?

[truthnluv]

In my opinion, the misunderstanding of the true nature of marriage is one of the biggest problems in the church today. It has led to many christians living in adultery as we speak.

Sex itself is a reaffirmation of the One-ness of male and female ORIGINALLY(Adam and Eve). This is why becoming one flesh(sex) constitutes a marriage alone. Notice Adam's words:

"Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and He brought her to the man.

And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

THEREFORE, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."Gen.2:22-24 What is that therefore there for(smile)? Therefore points back to his first statement and it is the reason for the second statement. He is declaring what will constitute a marriage(v.24) and why(v.23).

So, sex is a reaffirmation of the Oneness of male and female. It is God's divine way of permanently joining a male to an unattached female.

Marriage is the act of becoming one flesh(Gen.2:24, Matt.19:4-6, cf. 1Cor.6:15-16). One flesh is not figurative nor metaphorical, but literal. It is a clear reference to sexual union(1Cor. 6:15-16).When a man has sex with a virgin she becomes his wife(Hence, there is no such thing as pre-marital sex). If a man has sex with more than one virgin then he, quite simply, has more than one wife. In contrast, if a man has sex with a woman who is not a virgin it is adultery because she is already married(has already become one flesh with a man). Concurrently, if a woman has sex with more than one man it is an act of adultery on the part of the woman and the other man who has sex with her(Lev.20:10, 1Cor.7:39). There are only two exceptions to this rule:

1.The non-virgin woman is a widow(1Cor.7:39).

2.The non-virgin woman is a believer and the man who took her virginity is a non-believer who chooses to leave(1Cor.7:15).

Marriage has nothing to do with a piece of paper obtained from government. Their sanctioning of a marriage is as meaningless to God as their sanctioning of divorce. Also, marriage has nothing to do with a church ceremony. Can you find this ceremony outlined anywhere in scripture? I think not.

So, why is all this important. Well, if you married a woman who was not a virgin and the man who took her virginity was a believer then she is not your wife. You are living in adultery even if you have a legal marriage and a ceremony that was performed at church!

It also means that you are telling young adults who become one flesh(have sex) before legal "marriage" that they are guilty of a sin. They are then told to confess this act as sin and move on, oftentimes to marry other people. This results in a married woman legally marrying another brother, which is adultery on her part and his! These two young people did not fornicate, they simply got married.

Of course, if you are living in sin then you cannot produce fruit towards God and your life down here is a waste of time(John 15). You can still do "good things" like sharing truth, giving offering, fellowshipping with the saints, etc., but it will all be burned up when you stand before God. Why? Because you were out of fellowship the whole time. Therefore, You will not recieve any rewards! You will be a vessel of dishonour because of all the fruit you could have produced, but did not because you were out of fellowship for having unconfessed sin in your life.

This may not seem like a big deal now, but when you stand before God all you will have is a new nature(no more old). That new nature cares about nothing but pleasing God. And The Lord's displeasure will pain you beyond anything you could possibly imagine. There will be no physical brain impeding your thought processes as it does now... you will fully understand the error of your ways, but it will be too late.

Please feel free to comment and ask any questions. This post was written out of genuine christian love for all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

God bless,

Dave

Edited July 19, 2004 by truthnluv

[Guest JesusLovesU]

Hi Dave..

Just wanted to point out that. Jesus' first miracle was performed at a wedding.. when he turned the water to wine.. John 2

[pamjane]

super-interesting post, truthnlove. this is something i've never thought about or heard before. i'm excited about looking into it.

in Christ,

pam

[BoldlyProclaimingChrist]

There must be something else besides a physical union between two people in order to deem it a marriage because Joseph and Mary did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born. Now maybe this was just a special case but I had to point that out.

Also, what if one of the partners was not able to function properly, thus could not consummate the marriage?

I've never studied this but these are just two things I thought about off the top of my head. Anyone's comments?????

[truthnluv]

Hi Dave..

Just wanted to point out that. Jesus' first miracle was performed at a wedding.. when he turned the water to wine.. John 2 

Hi, there! If you do a study on biblical jewish marriages you will find that they did have wedding celebrations, but these did not actually constitute the marriage. The wedding in Cana was actually a feast(John 2:9). After the feast there would usually be a procession through town from the brides house back to the house of the groom or his parents. He would then take her into the house and take her virginity(consummate the marriage) while the parents of the woman waited outside. Afterwards the groom would give the bloodied sheets to the parents of the woman. At this point, they were married and the bloodied sheets were the evidence of this(Deuteronomy 22:13-21). Clearly, the marriage of two jewish people of Jesus' day was based on the girls virginity.

Hope that helps.

God bless

[truthnluv]

There must be something else besides a physical union between two people in order to deem it a marriage because Joseph and Mary did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born. Now maybe this was just a special case but I had to point that out.

Also, what if one of the partners was not able to function properly, thus could not consummate the marriage?

I've never studied this but these are just two things I thought about off the top of my head. Anyone's comments?????

Keep in mind that the words husband and wife do not exist in the hebrew or koine greek of the bible. The words are simply man and woman. For the purpose of clarification the translators used the legal terms husband and wife when the context indicated such. That being said, betrothal was binding in ancient Isreal. If you had sex with a girl that was betrothed to another man you would be stoned(Deuteronomy 22:25). She was another man's woman.

Joseph was refered to as the man of Mary during their betrothal period(Matthew 1:18-19). After this declaration the angel appears to Joseph and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his woman(Matt.1:20).

They were bound together as man and woman from the moment they were betrothed, but they didn't consummate the marriage and truly become one flesh until after Jesus was born.

God bless!

[truthnluv]

super-interesting post, truthnlove. this is something i've never thought about or heard before. i'm excited about looking into it.

in Christ,

pam

You seem to have an open mind, Pam. That's a blessing!

Grace and Peace sister

[sagz4Christ]

I would like to know where you got all this information. What authors have you read? What study did you do? Who helped guide you in this?

Thank you

[Guest LCPGUY]

Howdy Bro Dave,

you indeed brought up an interesting and volatile subject. That

[Guest LCPGUY]

Also, what if one of the partners was not able to function properly, thus could not consummate the marriage?

I've never studied this but these are just two things I thought about off the top of my head. Anyone's comments?????

Well, if they couldn