THE MARRIAGE
Every married couple has arguments, disagreements or downright fights at some time during their marriage. The key is to not let these "first" disagreements get out of hand and last for an extended time. Well, I'm certainly not going to be able to give you the "magic potion" and "presto" you are hugging and kissing each other again. It just doesn't work like that. However, the Bible DOES have the answer.
Most of us may need to see a good Christian counselor to help us over the rough edges. But, if we take Christ's advice (He's a good choice), and follow what He says in His Book, we will be surprised with the results. Below are a few verses in which you can get started.
In the book of Ephesians 5:22, the apostle Paul tells us about the mutual submission in marriage. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands." This passage is an expression of God's ideal for marriage. The marriage relationship was designed by him to be symbolic of the spiritual relationship between Christ and the Church. This verse was used against marriages by the feminists beginning in the 1960's which caused the divorce rate to skyrocket.
There in lies one of the big problems in taking a verse of Scripture out of context. You most often get a mixed message or the message may be completely wrong. Let's see what verse twenty-five says! Eph 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives". The obligations are not merely one-sided. The husband's responsibility is just as binding as that of the wife.
This is not a reference to normal marital love, which would not need to be commanded, but to that volitional love which stems from God and resembles his own love. In contrast to normal sexual desire, which by its nature is self-seeking, this love is unselfish. "....just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her Holy....." verse 28 "In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives."
While human husbands can never attain the degree of love Christ manifested, yet they are exhorted to have the same kind of love, which is demonstrated in the clause that follows, and gave himself for it. Now I ask you, if a woman had a husband who followed Christ's example and would be willing to "give himself up" as Christ did, by the way that means that He died for the Church.
If a man treated his wife in like manner, I do believe that she would "submit to him in a Biblical manner." This is mot sexual submission that is mentioned in this text, it is true Love and devotion.
This verse in the book of Hebrews makes a great study for an
honorable marriage.
Heb 13:4 " Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled;
but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." The closest human
relationship, marriage, ought to exhibit to all the graces of the Christian
life. If these Hebrews (to whom the book is written) were in Rome or in some
of the more notorious cities of the Mediterranean East, they were in a society
in which chastity and honor in marriage were commonly disregarded.
On the other hand, some religious sects or groups taught celibacy and asceticism. Celibacy is not a safeguard against immorality; but rather honorable marriage is the most wholesome life. Chastity in the bonds of marriage constitutes strong Christian witness. Profligate and licentious people must someday face their sins and practices before God.
Gen 2:20-24 " 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 his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
This verse was inserted here just to make a small point. Till the day we die, we must honor our Mother and Father, even if they have died. However, when a man and a woman have a Christian marriage, they become one within themselves and with Christ. Therefore, they are to leave their mother and father. Now, I thought that Christ's timing for this command was very interesting. Note here, that Adam and Eve did not have any human parents. So, it seems to me that He is making this point very profound. Your parents may have some great ideas for you, but they don't run your every day lives.
