“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” Genesis 2:24 (NIV)
“And some of the Pharisees came up, and in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him asked, Is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife. He answered them, What did Moses command you? They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and put her away. But Jesus said to them, Because of the hardness of heart (your condition of insensibility to the call of God) he wrote you this precept in your law. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave (behind) his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently. And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has united (joined together) let not man separate or divide. And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject. And he said to them, Whoever dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Mark 10:2- 12. (Amplified)
It was the late Dr. Miles Monroe who said “When purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable;" this to my mind is really the greatest problem of marriages. In this age of pluralism, things that were hitherto defined in a particular way have now been redefined to mean things that sometimes completely contradicts the original meaning.
The first thing to say about marriage is that many have come to see marriage as a CONTRACT rather than a COVENANT. It is important to make this distinction because this is the very foundation upon which the marriage union is built.
Can I say it loud and clear “Marriage is a COVENANT not a CONTRACT”.
What is a contract?
In very simple layman’s terms, a contract is an agreement between two or more parties stating in clear terms the obligations and responsibilities each parties will discharge in maintaining the agreement. If one party breaches the terms of the agreement, the other party is automatically absolved from any further obligations and responsibilities towards the agreement and such a party is free to exist that relationship. Furthermore in an agreement there is usually a tenure, a specific time frame under which the agreement is in effect after which the parties may or may not continue the relationship.
What is a covenant?
In contrast, a covenant is an agreement between one party (the stronger of the two parties)who proposes the terms of the agreement to another party (the weaker of the two) who accepts of rejects the offer. In the case of a covenant, the one who proposes the terms of the agreement cannot repudiate his obligations or responsibilities irrespective of what the other party does once the offer is accepted. In other words once a covenant is signed and sealed, there is no exit clause. It becomes an agreement for life.
Applying this to marriages, it is usually the man who is the stronger of the two that proposes to a woman and the woman is at liberty to either accept or reject the proposal. However, from God’s perspective once the proposal is made and accepted it becomes a covenant which can never be annulled or repudiated. The introduction of prenuptial contracts, divorce and multiple marriages or what David Pawson calls "Consecutive Polygamy" totally negates God's original design for marriage.
That is why before any man contemplates marriage it is advisable that he must have given serious thought to what he intends to go into because the purpose of marriage is a union for life.
To be continued!
