We believe marriage is God's design. We believe his purpose for marriage is threefold:
Mutually Completing one another
If ever a marriage was made in heaven it was Adam and Eve. It was perfectly planned and perfectly performed by a perfect God. First he sculptured Adam (Gen. 2:7). Molded by the Master Maker, Adam was made in God’s own image (Gen. 1:27). Adam was with God and had a will that was in complete harmony with the purposes of his creator.
In Genesis 2:18 God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Neither was it anything he had or had not done that was not good. It was simply Adam’s being alone that was not good.
“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:21, 22).
Adam immediately recognized Eve's similarity to himself. He said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). It seems that without any special revelation from God, Adam instinctively knew that Eve was made from him; she was part of him; she was his equal; she was his complement and counterpart. He called her woman, “female man.” He drew her to himself in tender love. She ended his biting loneliness and filled his life with happiness. She was just exactly what he needed. And nothing brought her more satisfaction than the assurance that her husband needed her so very much. What intense and indescribable pleasure they found in each other’s company! How they loved one another!
The Apostle Paul echoes this teaching in 1 Corinthians, he writes: “In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman” (1 Cor. 11:11).
Male and female were created to be complementary of one another in every way“ from their emotional and spiritual needs to their anatomical structure. The physical act of a husband and wife becoming one within marriage is easily understood. God designed them for one another.
multiplying a godly legacy
A second purpose for marriage is found in Genesis 1:28: "And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” The most obvious aspect of this command and blessing is that God designed male and female to join physically and reproduce children. Procreation is an integral part of Gods design for marriage.
Mirroring gods image
The third critical purpose for marriage described here is to mirror Gods image. The Hebrew word for mirror means to reflect God, to magnify, exalt and glorify Him. We are to be God's representatives to a world that desperately needs to see who He is.