Marriage and Family
Answers to Your Questions About Marriage and Family
Some of the most important aspects of the Christian life before God are marriage and the family. The Bible has instructions about the ideal relationship between man and woman, between parents and children.
1.Where did the idea of marriage come from?
God established from the beginning that a man and a woman should live together in faithfulness and love.
He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”
Matthew 19:4-62.What is the proper relationship between husband and wife in marriage?
The wife should be subject to her husband, and he should love her as Christ loved the Church, which is His spiritual bride.
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. […] Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,
Ephesians 5:22-23,253.Is God interested in the physical or sexual aspect of marriage?
Yes. God commands both the husband and the wife to take each other’s needs and desires into account.
Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband. The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
1 Corinthians 7:3-44.What does the Bible teach about unfaithfulness in marriage?
God demands faithfulness, from the man as well as from the woman.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Hebrews 13:45.What does the Bible teach about divorce?
Whoever divorces his or her spouse and marries another commits adultery before God, unless the first spouse has been unfaithful.
I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”
Matthew 19:96.How should Christian women married to non-Christian husbands act?
They should be submissive to their husbands, in whatever is right, and live a life full of love, kindness and consideration.
In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word, seeing your pure behavior in fear.
1 Peter 3:1-27.How should believing husbands treat their wives?
They should treat them with love, consideration and respect.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,
Ephesians 5:25You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:78.How should parents treat their children?
Parents should bring up their children with love and in the ways of God.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:49.Should parents discipline their children?
Yes, if they administer the discipline with love.
Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.
Proverbs 29:1710.How should children respond to their parents’ instructions?
Children should honor and obey their parents.
“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 5:16Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
Colossians 3:2011.What is the most important decision in the life of the family?
To serve the eternal God faithfully.
If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua 24:15