How does the Bible describe marriage?
In the Bible, marriage appears at the very beginning of the narrative, inside the creation account. Genesis 2 says, "Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh"; this sentence, grounding marriage in commitment…
In the Bible, marriage appears at the very beginning of the narrative, inside the creation account. Genesis 2 says, "Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh"; this sentence, grounding marriage in commitment and union, is repeated in both Testaments. In the dispute about divorce, Jesus returns to this verse and says, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate," defining marriage as a union deeper than a contract. The New Testament letters describe the quality of the marriage relationship in the language of mutuality: Ephesians frames the spouses within mutual respect and sets the measure of love high — a self-giving love described by the comparison "even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it." The portrait of love in 1 Corinthians 13 — patient, kind, not self-seeking, not easily angered — is not strictly a marriage text, yet it is the passage most often read at weddings, because it presents love in marriage as daily posture more than feeling. The Bible does not idealize marriage or hide its difficulties: the Old Testament narratives report troubled marriages candidly, and Proverbs contains realistic observations on the wear of household strife. The book of Ruth, a story of loyalty, is among the best-loved narratives of this theme. Family and marriage are gathered on this site's related topic page together with its key chapters.