Riff's Christian Journal

Is marriage just a tradition or is it more than that? Many people will tell you that there is no such thing as a traditional marriage. You see, a tradition can be a ritual, a practice or a habit, but does the biblical description of a marriage make it a tradition?

In Genesis 2, we read the following:

Gen 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 

Gen 2:20  but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Gen 2:21  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 

Gen 2:22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 

Gen 2:23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

Gen 2:25  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed

The first marriage ever performed, God invented it, did the ceremony Himself and ordained that this is what marriage should be. After Adam did not find a helper for himself among the animals God then created the woman to be the one to stand by the side of Adam to be his lifelong mate, to work together, to be a companion in a loving relationship.

Eve was someone created different from Adam to become the missing part of man, to complete him but to have different feelings, thoughts and actions, and made so that the two would come together in a physical way for pleasure and creation. God created the man and the woman to become one in mind, body and soul. No other combination can be the same.

Jesus, during His time on earth, affirmed this to be God’s intention and that marriage was to be a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.

In the Gospel of Mark chapter 10, this is how Jesus responded when confronted by some Pharisees about divorce.

Mar 10:2  And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 

Mar 10:3  And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 

Mar 10:4  And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put heraway. 

Mar 10:5  And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 

Mar 10:6  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 

Mar 10:7  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 

Mar 10:8  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

You see in these verses that marriage is to be a lifelongcommitment – until death separates them, and marriageis to be between a man and a woman.

For a marriage to be between anyone else is to separate what God invented marriage to be, ordained and performed by God Himself, when He joined Adam and Eve in that first marriage. 

Any other kind of a marriage disobeys God’s creation, separates what God has ordained for a marriage to beand will not, now or ever, be blessed by God.

As affirmed by Jesus:

Mar 10:6  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 

Mar 10:7  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 

Mar 10:8  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

So yes, marriage between a man and a woman is a tradition, invented and ordained by God to be the one and only way for a way marriage to be.