The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that attempting to reunite a couple in a marriage that has become “unworkable and totally dead” serves no purpose. The court cannot force a couple separated for 17 years to live together, it would be a legal fiction that disregards the emotional and practical realities of the relationship. (The Tribune India, 9 January 2025) For many couples, marriage has become a dead end or a legal fiction.
Spiritual covenant: The Bible teaches that marriage is not a fiction, but fact, established as a covenant when God created the institution of marriage. Man will be lonely even in Paradise like the Garden of Eden, and will need a helpmate, a woman to make him complete. (Genesis 2:22-24)
Sacred covenant: The covenant is sacred that two persons created in the image of God become one. Though they have independent minds, souls, hearts, emotions, thoughts, motivations, temperament, skills, abilities, gifts, talents… etc. Yet, they are one, which is beyond human comprehension and interpretation.
Sensitive covenant: As the first couple sinned and lost their innocence, all humans are sinners. When a man and woman unite in marriage means two sinners trying to become one. This struggle is a life-long struggle. Hence, being sensitive to one another helps them to grow and mature together. Without mutual surrender and accountability, a marriage may lead to a dead-end.
Sincere covenant: The covenant has to be maintained by sincerity. If one person is not sincere and has illicit sex outside marriage, the covenant is broken. Many young people think sex is leisure. It is God’s gift exclusively given to a married couple, when it is violated, it is sin against God.
Social covenant: Now-a-days, many people including celebrities reject marriage as a personal and public covenant. Without spirituality to commit, willingness to unite, and humility to accommodate; they opt for a live-in relationship. Sadly, the basic unit of society, which is the family, is undermined and corrupted. Hence, societies are destabilized, future generations will be more selfish and lawlessness will prevail.
Do I understand the Biblical instruction of marriage?