God is the authority on Marriage
when it comes to marriage you cannot have two masters.
Some years ago I was watching a seminar on YouTube from Dr. Myles Munroe. He said something in the video that caught me off guard. He said isn't it funny how persons can go to the church to get married and when it doesn't work out they go to the courts to get a divorce. I'm not exactly sure if this was the beginning or if this was the spark that started the reassessment of our beliefs and practices on the topic of marriage. Every culture around the world has some type of tradition that signifies the joining of two or more persons into marriage. These cultural traditions were very but one thing is very clear and that is marriage is sacred. The bond between the parties involved in marriage or something that is special and it separates their relationship and sets them apart from singles or typically dating relationships.
Outside of these cultural traditions we also have laws that regulate how marriages function. We have laws that dictate requirements for marriage the process of marrying and many policies and regulations around the topic of marriage. These laws are enforced by governments and Civic authorities. Individuals are penalized if these laws are broken concerning marrying and marriage. In some parts of the world breaking these marriages, laws can lead to jail time or even loss of life.
What is the proper way to look at marriage? Almost every religion will have some type of martial traditions, beliefs, and practices. These religious practices can stem back hundreds or thousands of years and are often deeply rooted in the very foundations of the various religions in the world. But I asked you this question after all of that what role does God play in marriage? As Christians how do we balance, how do we approach where God's boundary on marriage begins and where there is overlap between our culture, our state, or our religion.
Believers should look to God
As a believer, we learn in Genesis chapter 2 that marriage is the creation of God. When the god of the universe created all things he looked into the physical good and perfect world and said that it is not good that man should be alone. He then went ahead created a companion for the man to solve man's issue of loneliness. In Genesis 2 we see claiming that God created the marriage. Because God created marriage he is the master of marriage. He is the authority on establishing marital covenants. Notice that in Genesis 2 we do not see God asking man's opinion, or acquiring anything of man concerning marriage. It was in God's Divine will that marriage was needed therefore he created it and instituted it. Mine's only function in marriages is to obey God and to submit himself to God's authority.
You're probably wondering why is this even important? This is important because we see that when God created marriage he did so by himself for his reasoning and he did not ask anyone else permission. He did not authorize the state and he did not consult cultural practices. When it comes to the topic of marriage we as believers must accept God's word for what it says that marriage is and how marriage works. Often in conversations with religious leaders, I find persons referencing state laws or even cultural traditions with more authority on the topic of marriage than God's word. When God instituted marriage he did not do so with a poorly conceived notion of what marriage is. The Bible is not missing critical information on how marriage works. we do not need to improve upon God's creation of marriage by adding additional laws or creating new traditions to make marriage better.
Being in the world does not mean that we forfeit the things of God to the world. As believers, we must defend the biblical principle of what marriage is. We must hold the biblical view that marriage is a spiritual covenant with more value than we do the concept that marriage is a legal contract. We must be more concerned with how we enter the spiritual covenant of marriage over the value we put on the legally binding contract a marriage license brings. Marriage. A Christian understanding of marriage, a biblical understanding will not be easy for non-believers to accept. An atheist cannot enter into a biblical marriage covenant for the simple reason that biblically speaking only God can create marriages.
What does it mean when God becomes the authority
I see two questions forming in your mind. The first is why is it so important but believers old God's word is there a supreme authority on marriage? And the second being what does it mean if God is the authority on marriage?
First and foremost it means that our definition of marriage comes from God's word. Questions like homosexual marriage become irrelevant when operating with a biblical understanding of my range. If we go by God's definition that marriage is between one man and one woman which is how he created it to be and we also understand that he did not authorize anyone to modify his institution of marriage and there is no room for any other type of marriage to exist.
Another important point that we can learn from in the biblical view of marriage is that it is God who joins two people together. In Mark chapter 10 we see God the son speaking to the religious leaders on the topic of divorce. His response is concerning marriage. He says to them that whenever God joins together that no man has the authority to separate them. This is one of the most profound verses concerning God's authority on marriage. Because we see God himself communicating that it is God who joins two people. Today we have courts, ministers, on a broad spectrum of State authorized individuals that all have permission to declare someone as married. However, God is glad that only he has the authority to join marriages. Furthermore in his statement that no mind can separate what is implied is that no man has authority over the institution of marriage. As believers, we cannot accept a narrative that God shares authority over marriage with the state, our culture, or even the church. And Mark 10 we see very clearly then God does not want man tampering with marriages.
Lastly going back to Genesis chapter 2 one of the things we learn about God's vision for marriage is that not only does God join husband and wife together but he also communes and desires fellowship with husbands and wives. In marriage we not only have two people which is husband and wife but there's a third entity in all the local marriage and that is god. The biblical definition of marriage is husband, wife, and God. Is a third person actively and equally engaged and involved in all biblical marriages? The idea that a state or a church is the authority to join two people together directly conflicts with the biblical authority that God has and the position that God has established for himself in marriage. If you replace God with the state you weaken marriage from what God intended it to be.
Only when God is given his rightful position of authority in marriage can believers truly walk and fellowship and community in the lives of married couples.