Purpose of Marriage

What is God’s Purpose for Marriage? Marriage is a lifetime agreement/union and those who go into it must have good reasons for doing so. God established marriage for His divinely purposes.

One the reasons marriage is to develop spiritual unity. Surely, „becoming one flesh‟ points to unity of persons, not just to a conjunction of bodies, or a community of interests, or even a interchange of affections. It implies the merging of the "total" person. It is a "bonding" together on the deepest level. Husband and wife must be one in the spirit, serving. God and helping one another to enter internal life (Joshua 24:15).

The couple must agree on where Jesus Christ and fits into their marriage and family –He must be the Head of their family. They must also agree t to make serving God in unity a main goal, otherwise the walls of marriage will collapse. All authority in the family must come from Him alone, and that every decision must be reached basing on the Lord only.

Reading from Genesis 2:18-23, we can undeniably conclude that marriage is for companion and love. In creation of man, God‟s work was not yet complete in that man was incomplete and could not reproduce his kind alone. So, God made a woman for man‟s companion and helper. Therefore a woman was created to complement a man, Adam, who was incomplete without her. Thus, a woman must be the best of companion and a help meet of her husband (Malachi 2:14). Jerry L. Clark describes Companionship as emotional intimacy and being best of friends.

A.  Emotional Intimacy: God created man and woman with the capacity for deep emotional relationship- "Intimacy”. After sin  separated man/woman from God, they began to struggle for intimacy.

B. Being best of friends”: Our friendships range from the surface level to the deep most intimate level. The marriage relationship is intended by God to be the deepest, most intimate of all human relationships.This companionship demands four things, namely 

1. "Communication” where partners Communicate heart-to-heart.
2. "Cultivation" which is the willingness to work at the relationship to make it healthy and happy,
3. Careful Planning‟ which is making a wise use of time by avoiding unnecessarily wasting time on things that have nothing to profit the companionship; and
4. “Love”- In fact, love is the reinforcement on which companionship is built. Husband and wife need to love one another (Eph. 5:25-29; Titus 2:4).

C. Expressing sexual affection: (Genesis 2:24). „Becoming one flesh‟ also means living in physical intimacy (Aheb.13:4). Sexual union is "physical intimacy, and is holy, pure and undefiled only within marriage. The difficulty in the sexual area normally means a lack of "friendship" and "companionship".

D. Bearing and raising Godly children. In Genesis 1:27-28 we see God blessing both man and woman and He gave them twofold mission- to multiply themselves and fill the earth, and to rule over the creation and subdue the earth. One way of filling the earth is by reproducing in our own kind. Thus, God designed the physical or sexual part of human life for two clear purposes: 1) to provide the deepest level of human intimacy and 2) to procreate the human race.

E. Security. Marriage relationship is purposed for the benefit of both the husband and wife, not only for one person nor for destruction. Adam needed Eve who had to meet and protect him from his needs and weaknesses, and Eve needed Adam to meet and protect her from her needs and weaknesses (Eph.5:25-29; Eccl. 4:9-12).

F. Marriage symbolizes the Church. This is another fundamental purpose for marriage. In Ephesians 5:21-33 Paul gives an interesting illustration and comparison of marriage and church. Thus godly family symbolizes the church. As Jesus is the head of the church, so is the husband to his family.

                                                                          About The Author

                                                                              
Bishop Dr. Blackson Makhumba Banda is a Christian Life Coach, Marriage Therapist, Christian Leadership trainer, Church and Community Mobilizer, NGO/CBO Management Trainer, Bible teacher, author, and a serving pastor under Living Waters Church Int’l, where he is currently serving as the Principal at Wings of Eagle Bible College- Mzuzu, of the Living Waters Church. Before responding to a full time pastoral call, Blackson had served in various leadership positions as a young adult and church elder in Baptist and Living waters respectively, since 1984.
 
 Dr. Makhumba B (as is usually called) is also a founder and principal coordinator of Happy Family, Happy Church Ministry (under Divine Charisma Foundation), based in the northern region of Malawi (Mzuzu). He also has eight books in his credit; Why do Christians suffer, Life and Abortion (Counting the Cost) ; published by Gift of Faith in Blantyre, and The Personal Work (A handy book for a Christian Worker);published by Parables  in the USA, Mystery of A Happy Marriage, Shaky Foundations, Effective Communication, I know Who I Am, and Fearfully & Wonderfully Made