Why God created marriage
Marriage is meant to be a model of the relationship between Christ and His church. ( See Ephesians 5:31-33). Many of us look for a spouse to make us happy and to complete us, but I believe that marriage is meant to make us holy and to glorify God! Here are some verses from the Bible about marriage that point us to how this covenant created by God is supposed to be. If you are looking for Christian marriage quotes, look no further than to these key scriptures.
Marriage is the foundation of the family
Colossians 3:18-20 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
The role of the husband
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7 (NIV)
Ephesians 5:25-29 (NIV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing. Or having cleansed her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.
Ephesians 5:25-26 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing or “having cleansed” her by the washing with water through the word.
The role of the wife
Ephesians 5:33b (NIV) … and the wife must respect her husband.
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:22-24
Unity
Ephesians 4:2-3: “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?”
Love
Colossians 3:14: “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Faithfulness
1 Corinthians 7:1-10 (NIV) Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried or “widowers” and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
1 Corinthians 7:1-10 (NIV) Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Commitment
Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Mark 10:9: “Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
I may do another post on quotes from the Bible about marriage, but this is a good start if you are looking for direction for your current marriage or if you are looking for a spouse. If you are not already married, I think it is a good idea to know what the Lord expects from a husband and wife in a Godly relationship. God bless you. I pray these verses opened your eyes and changed your perception about what the Lord expects fro those of us in marriage!