Covenant Before Culture

(The Case for Marriage)

I. God’s Original Design

Genesis 2:18–24

When the Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce, He did something simple and bold. He didn’t argue the law. He didn’t haggle over texts. He went back to the garden. He started at the beginning. He said, “From the beginning it was not so.”

Listen. Marriage is not man’s idea. It is God’s. It is first. It is fundamental. Before law. Before government. Before church. Before anything else—God made marriage.

Picture Eden for a moment. Perfect world. No sin. No sorrow. Yet God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Not good. Think about that. Before sin entered, God saw that aloneness was wrong. He made a remedy. He made a companion.

He didn’t make a clone. He made a partner. He made another image-bearer. Male and female. Both made in God’s image. Both reflecting the Creator. Together showing God’s fullness. That’s the point. Marriage is not about superiority. It’s about complement. Two different strengths. Two different gifts. One common calling.

Then God does something intimate. He takes a rib. He forms a woman. He brings her to the man. Adam sees her and says, “This—this is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” That line is not poetry only. It is theology. It is the first human confession of delight. The first human word of commitment.

Because of that, God says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Leave. Cleave. Become one. Three verbs. One movement. A new primary allegiance. A new loyalty. A new identity. Marriage is not an add-on. It is a re-ordering. The two become one.

One flesh. That phrase hits deep. It is emotional. It is spiritual. It is physical. It is everything. It binds. It fuses. It is not a contract. A contract you can fix with signatures. A contract you can renegotiate. Marriage is not that. Marriage is a covenant. Covenant is heavier. Covenant is deeper. Covenant is sacred.

Hear the prophet Malachi later: he calls a wife “the wife of your covenant.” The language is sharp. It is holy. A covenant is not built on suspicion. That’s what a contract is: suspicion. “If you do this, I’ll do that.” A covenant is built on promise. “I will be faithful because God is faithful.” That makes the marriage different. That makes it a witness. That makes it a picture.

Think about fruitfulness. When God blesses them, He says, “Be fruitful and multiply.” That is not only about children. It is about life. It is about influence. A faithful marriage multiplies—hospitality, disciples, sacrificial service, character, mission. A home built on covenant is a greenhouse for grace. It multiplies Kingdom life.

Now listen carefully. When Jesus points to the beginning, He is doing two things. First: He reclaims the purpose. Marriage is made for companionship, for image-bearing, for one-flesh union, for fruitfulness, for stewardship. Second: He issues a charge. “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” He puts the weight of God behind the union.

That is why the question about divorce is not a mere technicality. It is not a loophole hunt. It is a theological crisis. Because if we reduce marriage to paperwork, we misunderstand God’s order. If we treat marriage as a rubric to be checked, we miss the mystery God meant. If we make marriage a scoreboard—waiting to catch someone in an error—then we have forgotten the Creator who joins two people into one life.

So we preach the beginning. Not as nostalgia. Not as sentiment. But as authority. If you want a foundation strong enough to hold a marriage through hardship—this is it. God’s design. God’s covenant. God’s joining.

This is where we will build what comes next. Hardness of heart. Porneia as covenant-betrayal. The cure—repentance and renewal. But none of those will make sense if we do not first understand what was joined at the start.

God made marriage. God intended covenant. God intended faithfulness. That is the cause for marriage. That is the standard. That is the claim.

II. Covenant Before Culture

When Jesus spoke of marriage, He reached back to Genesis.

But He also reached forward through the prophets to expose the heart of the matter.

Malachi gives us the word: covenant.

> “The Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth… she is your companion and the wife of your covenant” (Mal. 2:14).

That word matters.

Covenant is not culture.

It is not contract.

It is not a social trend that shifts with the fashion of the day.

Covenant is God’s own bond, sworn in His presence, sealed by His name.

Culture may change the laws.

Culture may rewrite the vows.

Culture may applaud easy exit and serial partners.