Jesus Himself indicated it isn’t malleable when He affirmed it as part of God’s design “from the beginning.” Moreover, He emphasized that marriage is, and has always been, between one man and one woman.
[N]otice what Mark 10:6 says. It says: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.'” He’s saying God created man and woman, and when he did so, he established the very beginning of society…the very beginning of life…and the exclusive union of marriage.
—Pastor Jack Graham—
Key points: God didn’t just create a man and a woman for marriage; He also created marriage for a man and a woman. Jesus Himself affirmed these truths. Without a male and a female, the relationship or potential relationship being considered cannot be a marriage. This was God’s design from the beginning and always will be His intention.
Special note: I write this on the evening of May 5, 2022, this year’s National Day of Prayer. It is difficult to think of a time when America was in greater need of prayer than she is today. This post on marriage reflects that need, as does the recent leak coming out of the US Supreme Court regarding the Court’s upcoming decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, a case that has the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Pray for abortion to end and for natural marriage to be reinstated, but also pray for revival to come to the United States of America. Evil and evildoers abound. God will judge this nation! Sound public policies are worth fighting for, but unless and until America repents, she will be target of God’s wrath — and He will be fully justified in dispensing it.
All of the articles in this series are available on this page.
Before Father Knows Best was a television program, it was a radio show. Jim Anderson, the father of three growing children—Betty, Bud, and Kathy—and husband to Margaret, may not always have known best in the absolute sense, but he undeniably was a loving father, even though at times with a rough exterior and with obvious imperfections. Jim Anderson was played by beloved actor Robert Young in both radio and television versions of Father Knows Best.
You can learn more about Father Knows Best here.
On the radio episode airing January 12, 1950, Bud Anderson, played by Ted Donaldson, is excited to tell his dad about the new watch his friend Joe Phillips got for Christmas.
Bud: You outta see the watch Joe Phillips got for Christmas, Dad. Boy, is that a watch! Shatterproof, shockproof, waterproof, heatproof, and it’s guaranteed to last him a lifetime. But it won’t.
Dad: Why not?
Bud: He lost it.
Dad: Bud, instead of making bad jokes, why don’t you go upstairs and do your homework?
Bud: That wasn’t a joke, Dad.
Dad: You can say that again!
Bud: You mean he whole thing?
Dad: Bud!
As humorous as this exchange is, I believe it illustrates a point we dare not miss. Whenever we lose something, we also lose its benefits. Obviously, one can lose the benefits of something if he or she doesn’t know where it is, but a person and society also can lose the benefits of something if they lose sight of what that particular thing is.
Obviously, one can lose the benefits of something if he or she doesn’t know where it is, but a person and society also can lose the benefits of something if they lose sight of what that particular thing is.
Today, because marriage has been redefined to include same-sex couples and because homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are being increasingly accepted as normal and legitimate in our society and culture — even among self-proclaimed Christians — society is rapidly losing the many wonderful benefits of natural marriage. It is not an understatement at all to say that redefining marriage has put society and individuals in peril. Moreover, the dangers are exacerbated because so many are oblivious to what they and society are losing and already have lost.
Redefining marriage has put society and individuals in peril.
As we explored last time, the benefits of natural marriage are eluding us largely because we no longer understand that marriage is what it is because of the differences between a man and a woman. Even many Christians are failing to understand this. Marriage, you see, is intrinsically the the lifelong commitment of one man and one woman to each other. Therefore, if you don’t have an opposite-sex couple, you simply cannot have a marriage.
Here the church stands guilty of allowing a lie to take hold in society and within Christian ranks. The lie that has taken hold is not benign, but toxic in the worst sort of way. Church leaders have remained silent on an issue with profound spiritual implications. Marriage is a picture of the gospel of Christ and of the relationship of Christ to His bride, the church. The church has failed to uphold the gospel of Christ by upholding marriage. While the church must never abandon or diminish its primary mission of sharing the gospel and making disciples, marriage and the gospel are so intertwined that to refuse to uphold natural marriage is to diminish and hinder the gospel itself.
Marriage and the gospel are so intertwined that for the church to refuse to uphold natural marriage is to diminish and hinder the gospel itself.
Joe Phillips’s lost watch provides for us a picture of what is happening in our country with regard to natural marriage and its inherent, abundant benefits. Furthermore, what Bud Anderson said about the loss of the watch also is true about marriage. It isn’t a joke!
Jesus Himself Upheld Natural Marriage
In Matthew 19:1-12 and Mark 10:1-12, the Pharisees approached Jesus and asked Him a question to trap Him. “Is it lawful,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife?” In parts 8 through 10 of this previously-released series of articles (combined into a single post here) we focused primarily on Matthew’s record of this event in Matthew 19:1-12. In this post we will look mainly at what Mark wrote about in 10:1-9 of his Gospel. Be assured that Matthew and Mark don’t contradict each other, although Mark’s account is slightly more concise. Here is the passage.
Mark 10:1 Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.
2 The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.
3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”
5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Because the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus, they expected Him to enter into a discussion about Moses’ law. Bible scholar Warren Wiersbe writes,
Jesus completed His ministry in Galilee, left Capernaum, and came to the Trans-Jordan area, still on His way to the city of Jerusalem (Mark 10:32). This district was ruled by Herod Antipas, which may explain why the Pharisees tried to trap Him by asking a question about divorce. After all, John the Baptist had been slain because he preached against Herod’s adulterous marriage (Mark 6:14-19).
But there was more than politics involved in their trick question, because divorce was a very controversial subject among the Jewish rabbis. No matter what answer Jesus gave, He would be sure to displease somebody, and verbs indicate that the Pharisees “kept asking Him,” as though they hoped to provoke Him to say something incriminating.1
Jesus responded by asking the Pharisees, “What did Moses command you?”
“Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her,” replied the Jewish religious leaders. They were alluding to Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Verse 1 sets the stage for a prohibition that is explicitly stated in in verse 4: “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,” and another man marries her, if the woman’s second husband divorces her or dies, the man who was her first husband cannot take her back as his wife “after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Divorce would occur, but it would be regulated. The reason, says Wiersbe, was “so that the wives would not become victims of their husbands’ whims.”2
Thus, Moses recognized that divorce would occur in Israel, but he did not approve of it or sanction it.3 Jesus explained, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.” Then Jesus jumped from Deuteronomy all the way back to the accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and 2. Reiterating what had occurred at the dawn of time, Jesus declared,
Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Note the following eight items.
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- First, in Mark 10:6, Jesus said, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’” This included a quotation from Genesis 1:27, which states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27 does not appear in the above image, but, as we will affirm in a moment, verses that convey the same idea do appear.
- Second, in Mark 10:7-8, Jesus said, “‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.” This included a quotation from Genesis 2:24, which reads, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
- Third, without question, Jesus’ statement in Mark 10:6 — “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female’” (which, as we noted in our first item, includes a quotation from Genesis 1:27) is a concise summary of Genesis 2:18-23. Here are these verses in an even broader context, Genesis 2:`15-25:
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
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.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
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- Fourth, note the transition phrase “For this reason” in Mark 10:7 and the transition word “Therefore” in Genesis 2:24. These terms are interchangeable; they mean the same thing.
- Fifth, let’s ask an important question. For what reason, then, shall “‘a man…leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,'” and “‘the two…become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh”? (Mark 10:7-8). The answer is crystal clear! Because “from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female'” (Mark 10:6; Gen. 1:27). Marriage is to occur, and occurs, because of the differences between men and women and the relational dynamic that arises out of those differences!
For what reason, then, shall “‘a man…leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,'” and “‘the two…become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh”? (Mark 10:7-8). The answer is crystal clear! Because “from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6; Gen. 1:27).
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- Sixth, God established marriage when He created the man and the woman. He created the man and woman for marriage and marriage for the man and woman. We see evidence that Adam’s and Eve’s relationship was the first marriage in these verses: 1) Genesis 2:24-25, where marriage not only is described, but also where term wife appears in Scripture, initially and a second time; and 2) Genesis 3:6, which showcases the first instance in which the word husband appears in the Bible.
- Seventh, it’s important to understand that, as important as Jesus’ statements were, the Lord was not emphasizing anything that had not already been revealed in Scripture. Even so, His approach offers the church and contemporary believers a significant lesson. To fully answer the Pharisees’ question about divorce (and consequently, marriage), Jesus didn’t stay on the subject of the law of Moses but went all the way back to Genesis 1 and 2, where He emphasized God’s design “from the beginning.” Jesus effectively upheld marriage this way, and so can we.
- Eighth, marriage is as old as humanity itself. It was established by God with, and in connection with, His creation of human beings. It predates government. It is the means by which families are established. Further, the family provides the best environment for children to be brought into the world, have their needs met, and to be reared to become responsible adults. Marriage and family also are the means by which the human race continues into the future.
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Countering Lies with the Truth
In recent years, it has become very fashionable among certain evangelical leaders to emphasize the importance of one cause or another by claiming that it — whatever “it” might be — is a “gospel issue.” I have frequently heard this claim and have often had my doubts about its validity.
Here, I have no doubt whatsoever. Marriage is a gospel issue. The Bible says so. Marriage’s link to the gospel of Christ is undeniable. If the church and individual believers have an obligation to uphold the gospel, then we have an obligation to uphold natural marriage. Here I don’t mean merely strengthening individual marriages, as important as this is. I’m primarily talking about upholding and working to preserve marriage as an institution, and as the institution that God designed.
Against the backdrop of all many myths and lies reinforcing homosexuality and same-sex marriage as normal, the church has an obligation to uphold the truth about marriage and to work to preserve it, even if doing so offends some.
Next time, we’ll talk more about the church’s responsibility along these lines.
Stay tuned!
Copyright © 2022 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Portions of this article have appeared previously in other Word Foundations posts.
For further reading: Upholding God-Ordained Marriage Is One of the Greatest Ways to Uphold the Gospel
Notes:
1Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 1: Matthew–Galatians, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1989), 144.
2Ibid.
3John D. Grassmick, “Mark” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament Edition, ed. by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 149.
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