Marriage is ordained by God. In Genesis God said that it was not good for man to be alone. God said “good” to everything that He created. With the exception of the second day, God proclaimed that what He had created was good. God did not say that “it was good” on the second day, because the firmament was the place of Satan. Moreover, on the sixth day, God did not say that “it was good”; in fact, He even said that something was not good after He created man. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). This is not to suggest that man was not created well. It means only that it was not good because there was just one man. Only half of man was created.
God created a help meet for Adam on the sixth day. Eve was also made on the sixth day, and she was brought by God to Adam. She was made for the purpose of marriage. The words help meet mean “meet to help.” This word in Hebrew means “someone that matches, someone that renders help.”
In considering Genesis 2:18, many Bible readers think that when God created man, He created a male plus a female. However, the Bible says only that God created man. His creation of man was His creation of male and female. The male and female made a complete man. It was as if God created half of a man in the beginning and then the other half after seeing that this man was only one-half. The two halves were joined together to become one. Only when the two halves were joined together was man complete. This is why God did not say that “it was good” until Eve was made. This shows us that marriage is not initiated by man but by God. The institution of marriage did not come after man’s fall but before it. Man did not sin on the first day of his creation; he was married on the first day of his creation. On the same day that God created Eve, He gave her to Adam. This is not something that happened after man sinned. Marriage is something initiated by God.
In Genesis 2 we see marriage in God’s creation. In John 2, at the beginning of the Lord Jesus’ ministry, there was also a wedding in Cana. During that wedding the Lord Jesus changed the water into wine. This shows that the Lord not only allowed marriage but even approved and endorsed it. The Lord Jesus not only attended the wedding but even enhanced it and made it better. It is clear that marriage was initiated by God and particularly approved by the Lord Jesus. Therefore, it is something entirely of God.
Here we see the place of marriage before God. God’s purpose is to have a husband and a wife, who will mutually help each other. Thus, He called Adam’s wife a help meet. Help meet in Hebrew means someone who is meet to help. Here we find that God wants man to live in a corporate way, to have mutual fellowship, and to render mutual help. This is God’s purpose.
In the Old Testament God instituted marriage before sin came into the world. In the New Testament, Paul said that marriage not only is allowed but also is a necessity because of the presence of sin (1 Cor. 7).
Marriage can prevent sin. This is why Paul said that men should have their own wives and women should have their own husbands. This is to prevent the sin of fornication (v. 2). Paul did not condemn the consciousness of sex as sin. On the contrary, he showed us that both the male and the female should marry in order to prevent sin.
Paul said that we should make no provision for the flesh (Rom. 13:14). If a man constantly committed the sin of pride, Paul could not have said, “Since you always commit the sin of pride, you can be proud at home so that you will not be proud elsewhere! If you exercise your pride in one place, perhaps you will not exercise it elsewhere.” Saying this would have been to make “provision for the flesh.” God would never agree with his pride or my making some arrangement for him to exercise his pride. Consider a man who loves to steal. You should not say, “Since you like to steal, I will allow you to steal the things which belong to Brother So-and-so so that you will not steal from others.” You should not say this; instead, you need to say, “You cannot steal at all.” Stealing is definitely a sin, and we should not make any provision for it. Pride is definitely a sin as well, and we cannot make provision for it either. But sex is not a sin in an absolute sense. This is why men should have their own wives, and women should have their own husbands. If we do not understand this, we may think that Paul’s word was making provision for the flesh. But we know that the apostle did not make provision for the flesh. Therefore, we cannot consider marriage to be a sin. Marriage is not God’s provision for the flesh. We want to hold marriage on a high plane. It is something holy and ordained by God Himself.
Marriage is necessary because sin has entered. Marriage can prevent sin. This is not to make provision for the flesh. There is a clear difference.
In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul spoke about marriage. He began by saying that a wife does not have authority over her own body, and a husband does not have authority over his own body (v. 4). Paul’s teaching is quite clear. Except for the purpose of devoting themselves to the service of the Lord, the husband and the wife should not be separated. This prevents fornication (v. 5). In order to prevent fornication, God ordains that male and female should marry and not be separated.
Paul used strong words to speak of those who have a compelling desire for sex. He said that they should marry in order to avoid burning with desire (v. 9). He did not reprimand such persons. Paul did not say, “You are wrong to have such a strong desire. You have sinned in having such a strong desire. Therefore, you have to make some provision for your flesh.” Instead, he said, “If you have a strong desire, you should marry. It is better to marry than to live with such a strong desire.” The Word of God is very clear concerning this. The consciousness of sex is not a sin. Even a strong sex urge is not a sin. But God has ordained that those who have a strong consciousness of sex should marry. They should not abstain from marriage on the one hand and fall into sin on the other hand. This is what the Lord has shown us.
The institution of marriage has a New Testament aspect and an Old Testament aspect. The Old Testament shows us that marriage provides help that is meet. The New Testament says that it is instituted to prevent sin. One aspect of the Christian marriage today is mutual help, and the other aspect is the prevention of sin.