MARRIAGE DYNAMICS (Vol. 16)
Mystery about Marriage
Covenant Marriage is Commitment!
Cleaving: “And is united to his wife...” This phrase indicates that marriage is a cemented or glued relationship that is not expected to be broken. Commitment is cleaving or joining to your spouse. It is a volitional act. It is not living with your spouse but being with your spouse.
Cleaving: “And is united to his wife...” This suggests a more permanent association which focuses upon reciprocal relations. Covenant marriage is expected to be a cemented, glued, and permanent relationship with no room for divorce.
Cleaving: “And is united to his wife...” Commitment is more than living with someone in marriage it is being with someone in marriage. It is being with them in sickness and in health, in abundance and in scarcity, in prosperity and in poverty. Commitment includes cleaving.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” This is the relational part of marriage. Becoming one flesh in marriage means two different persons coming together to form an interdependent and not a dependent or an independent relationship. Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” This means that marriage is unity and not uniformity. It is not assimilation but accommodation. It is not becoming like your spouse but it is being who you are.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” Neither spouse is to give up his or her personhood for the sake of the other because their differences are part and parcel of becoming one.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” This shows that marriage is monogamy and not polygamy. Commitment is to be committed to one man or one woman in your marriage. It is not the accumulation of wives, husbands, concubines, boyfriends, and girlfriends.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” Commitment in marriage is being with one man or one woman, till death do you part. This means that you cannot be tired of each other.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” Marriage is the only avenue and means for the expression of sexual union. Any sexual union or relationship outside of marriage is a sin.
Weaving: “And they become one flesh.” There is no such thing as casual sex. Sex is a sacred act. Sex is more than mutual fulfillment in orgasm, rather it is a means of fostering union, communion, communication, recreation, and procreation in marriage. It takes commitment to be committed to one person in marriage.