Marriage between one man and one woman is what marriage is, according to the Bible. It is beautiful, profound, and joyous for a man and woman to enter into the covenant of marriage, as established by God. No other relationship can be called “marriage.”
In Genesis 2, it was not good for the man to be alone, so the Lord God made a helper fit for him. She was unique, unlike any other creature He had made. The man said of her, “This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She is woman.” Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). The man and woman are united physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They work together, made in God’s image, to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). It is ordained by God, a serious matter, and wonderful to see. We celebrate marriage.
There is more to a marriage between one man and one woman; it is a mysterious insight into the relationship between God the husband and His wife the church. Paul said in Ephesians 5, “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is Himself its Savior.” He also said, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves Himself.” Then he quoted from Genesis, about the man leaving his father and mother and becoming one flesh with his wife. Then Paul concluded, “It is a profound mystery, and I am saying that it (the marriage) refers to Christ and the church.” Marriage between one man and one woman represents God and His church.
John Piper said, “God designed marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman for their mutual joy, the good of society, and the procreation of children. Marriage ultimately displays the glory and grace of God by picturing the unbreakable relationship between Christ and his church.” We bless the newlyweds and honor the anniversaries. “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous (Hebrews 13:4).”