You don’t have to dig very deep to find a plethora of reasons that support the idea that marriage is a vitally important institution for humans. The Bible and culture, alike, promote the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits that come from “tying the knot.” But, it’s the former that holds all the authority on the topic. The following list details 3 reasons why biblical marriage is so important:
- Marriage was created, and is prescribed by God.
- Marriage is the birthplace of the family.
- Marriage is designed by God as a picture of Christ and the Church, and as a proclamation of the Gospel.
3 REASONS WHY BIBLICAL MARRIAGE IS SO IMPORTANT
Marriage was created, and is prescribed by God.
After God created Adam, He said this… “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” And so it began. God created a woman out of Adam’s rib, and Adam named her Eve. And so, marriage was created and consecrated to be between a man and a woman. And the marriage was a covenant between both them and God.
So, aside from the obvious, that God created it… why is marriage so important?
Culturally speaking, marriage is important because it seems to prevent many societal ills. For example, married people aren’t on welfare as often as unmarried people. They aren’t diagnosed with mental illness as often. In fact, people who are married don’t become physically ill as often as people who aren’t, either. Furthermore, married people don’t commit as many crimes. And children are more than 80% less likely to live in poverty in homes where the mother and father stay married. And that’s not to mention the other advantages that are there for children who have the benefit of growing up in a home where their parents stay married. Marriage, as an institution, is advantageous to the people in our society in virtually every measurable category that I could find.
Spiritually speaking, marriage is a vitally important institution created by a holy and loving God for the benefit of the humanity that He created. As I’ll cover in greater detail later on in this article, God created marriage as a picture of the relationship between Christ and His Church. He also created it to fill the earth with people, made in His image, to serve and worship Him in Spirit and truth, and make up the body of Christ, the Church. And then, God created marriage, or more specifically, the marriage bed to be a beautiful and pleasurable, and sacred place that would not only be used to populate the earth, and create families, but that would also help His people abstain from sexual sin.
Marriage is the birthplace of the family.
One of the foundational reasons that God created marriage for men and women was to create families; to procreate and fill the earth with people, and rule over it. Genesis 1:28 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’”
According to historical records, one of the reasons procreation is so important is that civilizations rise and fall by their birth rates. The birth rate of any given civilization plays a vital role in whether it thrives or it vanishes into extinction. Now, to be sure, God has everything to do with whether a nation or a civilization lasts or doesn’t. And in His Providence He decides whether or not life will come from the marital union (sex) between a husband and his wife. He is the life-giver. But, as statistics go, this one is as telling as any could possibly be in predicting the long-term future of a city, nation, or generation of people. Families matter. And without the constant creation of new families, history warns us that civilization will fade away.
That said, families are the source of the deepest and most meaningful relationships we experience in this life. And families, as designed by our Creator, are made through the procreation of husbands and wives. Of course, families are also made by husbands and wives who adopt children, through the grace and mercy of God.
Unfortunately, though, our modern culture has also perverted the family to include homosexual couples as an option for children to be adopted by. This is not the will of God, or His design for the family. It’s a perversion of His design and purpose, created by a fallen world to mock Him.
Marriage is designed by God as a picture of Christ and the Church, and as a proclamation of the Gospel.
In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul likens his instruction to husbands on how to love their wives to the way Christ died for the Church; giving Himself up for her and washing her with water through the Word. He says,
Marriage, when it functions as God designed it to, proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Check out this excerpt by the Rev. Jonathan Petzold on “How Marriage is a Picture of Christ and the Church.” It’s one of the best descriptions of this that I have ever read:
“Salvation for the Church by the crucifixion of Jesus was not God’s backup plan. Jesus and the cross was the plan all along, even before the fall into sin. In fact, the creation of Eve is an image that foreshadows the cross. In Adam’s deep sleep Eve was drawn from his side—made from his rib. In Jesus’ “deep sleep” upon the cross, His Bride, the Church, is drawn from His pierced side—made from the sacrificial flow of blood and water. In Baptism, Jesus’ blood washes our sin away. From the flow of water with the Word, each member of the Church is born. Marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church, so God created marriage as a gift to all the world as a picture reminder of the Gospel. Christians live out faithful, loving, forgiving marriages for Gospel proclamation.”
So, marriage is multidimensionally beneficial to us all. But it may serve no greater purpose in creation than that of its reflection of the Christ-Church relationship, and its proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Closing thoughts
God wouldn’t have created marriage if it weren’t an important part of His plan for creation. Through marriage, generations and family lines have coursed through the pages of history. Not the least, of which, plotted its course from the first man, Adam, through 4000 years, all the way to the Son of God, Jesus, Himself. Marriage played a role, both in the fall of creation, and in the salvation of the world. And, ultimately, it will have its role in eternity, as well, between Christ and His eternal Church.
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