Chapter 25 Of Marriage

Table of Contents

25.1 From the Bridegroom: Marriage is Between One Man & One Woman

Marriage is to be between one man and one woman; neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband at the same time.

Genesis 2:24 (CSB) This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Malachi 2:15 (CSB) Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Matthew 19:5–6 (CSB) and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

25.2 From the Bridegroom: Goodness for Husband & Wife

Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and the preventing of uncleanness.

Genesis 2:18 (CSB) Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”

Genesis 1:28 (CSB) God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

1 Corinthians 7:2–9 (CSB) But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband. A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. Do not deprive one another—except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that. I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am. But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.

25.3 From the Bridegroom: Equally Yoked Between Husband & Wife

It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who are able with judgment to give their consent; yet it is the duty of Christians to marry in the Lord; and therefore such as profess the true religion, should not marry with infidels, or idolaters; neither should such as are godly, be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresy.

Hebrews 13:4 (CSB) Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

1 Timothy 4:3 (CSB) They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.

1 Corinthians 7:39 (CSB) A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord.

Nehemiah 13:25–27 (CSB) I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

25.4 From the Bridegroom: Marriage is of Man & Wife

Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity, forbidden in the Word; nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful, by any law of man or consent of parties, so as those persons may live together as man and wife.

Leviticus 18 (CSB) The LORD spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God. Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs. You are to practice my ordinances and you are to keep my statutes by following them; I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am the LORD. “You are not to come near any close relative for sexual intercourse; I am the LORD. You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father and mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; she is your father’s family. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s, whether born at home or born elsewhere. You are not to have sex with her. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for they are your family. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter, who is adopted by your father; she is your sister. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative. You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sex with her. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s family. You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved. You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime. “You are not to approach a woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. “You are not to sacrifice any of your children in the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable. You are not to have sexual intercourse with any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. “Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its iniquity, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. But you are to keep my statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable acts—not the native or the alien who resides among you. For the people who were in the land prior to you have committed all these detestable acts, and the land has become defiled. If you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. Any person who does any of these detestable practices is to be cut off from his people. You must keep my instruction to not do any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them; I am the LORD your God.”

Mark 6:18 (CSB) John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

1 Corinthians 5:1 (CSB) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.