Marriage Secrets From The Garden Of Eden

The apostle Peter adds these words: Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,… Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” (1 Peter 3:1 & 7)

Finally, let us note another part of the purpose of marriage. We find it in God’s statement to Adam when He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Later on, Malachi adds, “God made one woman for one man. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. (Malachi 2:15)

God made but one male and one female, that all the nations of men might know themselves to be made of one blood, descendents from one couple and as a result may love and respect each other. God provided Adam and Eve with the ability to pass on the nature they had received from God to those who would be born from their love for each other. In Genesis 2:7, when God breathed into the body He had created, in the English it says, He breathed the breath of life, but in the original the word life is lives. He breathed the breath of many lives into Adam!

God desired to see an offspring that should bear the image of God, an offspring that should be employed in the service of God, an offspring that would be devoted to God’s glory and honor, that they might propagate the nature of man in such a way as to be likely to participate in God’s own nature.

The raising up of a godly offspring is one of the great ends of the institution of marriage. It is for this reason the marriage bed should be kept undefiled and the marriage bond unbroken. Husbands and wives are to live in the fear of God, that their children may be godly, holy, as children of the covenant, the marriage-covenant. Marriage as God designed it, is the best place for children to be reared, the place that is most conducive to their self-image, their security and their stability.

A final key to a successful marriage is for both the husband and the wife to agree to function within their God-given roles, and if they are blessed with children, to rear them in the atmosphere of a Godly home!

Conclusion: Marriage between a man and a woman is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally a divinely ordained covenant, spiritual in origin, civil in its legality, and personal in its expression. Marriage as God designed it deserves our deepest respect, our genuine support and our thoughtful preservation. An early Bible scholar by the name of Adam Smith has written: “Wedded union is the sum and type of every social tie. It gives rise and scope to all the nameless joys of home. It is the native soil for the cultivation of all the social virtues. It provides for the due framing and checking of the overgrowth of interest in self, and for the gentle training of a growing interest in other people. It unfolds the graces and charms of mutual love and imparts to the susceptible heart all the peace and joy, all the light and fire, all the frankness and life of conscious and constant purity and goodwill. Friendship, brotherly kindness and love are still hopeful and sacred names among the people of this world.” God is much displeased with those who would put asunder what he has joined together.