(Chapter 2 of A Biblical Worldview Affects Every Area of Life)
Authentic biblical Christianity’s most obvious fruit will be displayed in our most important relationships, beginning with our marriage.
Our New Covenant relationship with God qualifies us – as God’s beloved children (Ephesians 5:1) – to experience a rich inheritance (Ephesians 1:11, 1:13-14), eternally – in heaven, (1 Peter 1:4), but also in this life – on earth.
So just what does this earthly inheritance look like, and how does it affect our marriage?
The Holy Spirit
A 2017 article in Psychology Today says that the number one reason that marriages fail is a “failure to wed,” contrasting that with a healthy marriage:
Two separate and uniquely different people come together to form a whole whose essence is greater than the sum of its parts, and not two individuals who are constantly “hijacking the we” by trying to make their partner become more like them.
Neil J Lavender Ph.D.
“The Two Shall Become As One,” June 22, 2017
And another article says:
What does it mean to “hold fast” or “cling to,” or literally “to be joined to,” another person? Marriage establishes and protects one’s most fundamental human relationship. More fundamental than father and mother. More fundamental than the resulting children, precious as they are. More fundamental than a best friend.
“What is the Mystery of Marriage?” desiringGod.org, July 11, 2018
It is the Holy Spirit who – for the Christian couple – takes this all from theory to reality.
The Holy Spirit actually inhabits Christian husbands and wives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 1:22), and “pours out” His own love into the hearts of married Christian couples (Romans 5:5). The Spirit “knits” our hearts together (Ephesians 4:1-3; Colossians 2:2), and creates the “bond of peace” between us (Ephesians 4:1-3) that He helps us to keep (Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 3:16-17; Philippians 4:13; John 16:7).
A victorious life
The Bible (Ephesians 5:31-32) says the Christian marriage is a “great mystery,” in the sense that something profound is being revealed.
Meditate on this for a moment.
God, the supernatural Creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1) – the Bible calls Him “Yahweh” (Genesis 22:14), and “I am Who I am” (Exodus 3:14) – has chosen to use the Christian marriage to reveal Himself to this world.
As a couple, we – in the Spirit – possess the character of God (Matthew 5:9; 6:33; 1 John 3:9), and (to an extent) the supernatural wisdom and power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24; 4:20; Ephesians 1:17-21; Colossians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; James 3:17; Proverbs 8:11-12, 17-19), and are thus able to navigate and overcome adversity in any situation in which we find ourselves (Matthew 7:24-27; Romans 8:37; 1 John 5:4). No matter what life throws our way, we know that with God’s help, we will thrive (2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 John 4:4; Deuteronomy 28:9, 13).
Righteousness, peace and joy
What about the famous statistic that half of all marriages end in divorce? That’s true, but only when it comes to first marriages, half of which are dissolved. Second and third marriages actually fail at a far higher rate
Forbes Advisor, Jan 8, 2024
When a Christian couple weds, they make a covenant (Proverbs 2:17) to stay together for life (Mark 10:9; Romans 7:2-3), and although many will say that is at best improbable (Matthew 19:10), the Bible says, that “he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.”
What does that favor look like? Affection (1 Corinthians 7:3), Love (Ephesians 5:2-33; 1 Peter 4:8), Respect (Ephesians 5:21-33; 1 Peter 3:7) and their resulting blessings (Deuteronomy 28:2; Psalm 127:3-5; Psalm 128:3).
Abundance
When people hear the word “abundance,” they somehow get the picture of some kind of materialistic obsession with things, with “stuff,” but that’s not what Jesus talked about in John 10:10:
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Are you living that kind of life? Are you living abundantly?
The other day, I heard a scripture that kept repeating itself over and over again in my mind:
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:3
That kind of “eternal life” doesn’t begin when we die. The Bible uses the word “zoe,” and that means:
"the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical,"
and
"life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous."
How does that kind of life look in a marriage? Intimacy (Hebrews 13:4; Proverbs 5:18; 30:18-19), Harmony (John 17:26; Ephesians 4:3-4; 1 Peter 3: 8; Proverbs 19:14; 31:10, 11 Ecclesiastes 4:12 ;9:9), Contentment (Philippians 4:19; James 3:18; 3 John 2; Revelation 22:1-5; Deuteronomy 28:8; Psalm 1:1-3; Proverbs 3:9-10; 8:32-35; 10:22; Ezekiel 47:12;), and Overflow (Luke 6:38; John 7:38; Acts 2:45-46; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Philippians 2:4; 1 Timothy 3:1-5; 1 John 3:16-18; Proverbs 3:10; 22:9; 31:20, 23; Isaiah 58:6-7).
Hope
The first time the word “hope” (tiqva) is found in Bible is in the book of Ruth, which ironically, is the story of a family that had given up hope. However, it is also a story of how God restored that hope (Ruth 4:13-15).
Tiqva = "hope of deliverance" or "a hoped-for outcome"
What kind of deliverances or outcomes should Christian couples expect as beloved children of God?
| “Love and cherish” | Romans 13:8 | “Love never fails…” |
| Song of Songs 2:10 | “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.” | |
| Song of Songs 8:6 | “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death.” | |
| Song of Songs 8:7 | “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” | |
| “For better or worse” | Romans 5:1-2 | “We have peace with God… and (we) rejoice in hope…” |
| Romans 12:12 | “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer…” | |
| Romans 15:13 | “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” | |
| Ephesians 1:18 | “That you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” | |
| Proverbs 10:28 | “The hope of the righteous is gladness…” | |
| Proverbs 23:18 | “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” | |
| “In sickness and in health” | James 5:15 | “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” |
| 1 Peter 2:24 | “By His wounds you have been healed…” | |
| Psalm 103:2-3 | “Bless the LORD…Who heals all your diseases…” | |
| Proverbs 17:22 | “A joyful heart is good medicine…” | |
| “For richer or poorer” | Psalm 1:1-3 | “Blessed is the man (whose) delight is in the law of the LORD… He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” |
| Psalm 9:18 | “For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.” | |
| Psalm 37:5 | “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.” | |
| Jeremiah 29:11 | “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” | |
| Deuteronomy 28:12 | “The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.” | |
| “Till death do us part” | Matthew 19:6 | “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” |
| Psalm 52:8 | “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” | |
| Psalm 91:16 | “With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” | |
| Psalm 128:3 | “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house…” | |
| Proverbs 31:28-29 | “(Her husband) praises her: ‘Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.'” |
Satisfaction
In addition, the Bible makes Christian married couples this promise to look forward to:
The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer(s) of the Breach, the Restorer(s) of Streets to Dwell In…
Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth…”
Isaiah 58:11-14
