The key element that makes up a home is the union of one male and one female in marriage. In Genesis 1:26-27, the Bible teaches God created male and female, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27).

In Genesis 1:28, God begins to reveal some of the reasons for creating man and woman.

First, the Physical Reasons

a) “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” What a glorious design of God, that male and female be used as vehicles to populate the earth with offspring; each one (male and female) so created by God to complete this process from conception; through the gestation period; and then to birth.

b) “And subdue it (the creation): and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Then in Genesis 2:19-20, Adam named God’s creations, both animals and birds, “every living creature.”

In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God performed this by causing a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. As he slept, God took one of Adam’s ribs and made a woman (a female) and brought her unto the man. So God created male and female and brought them together to replenish the earth and to subdue God’s creation.

c) “And they shall be one flesh.” Then Adam said in Genesis 2:23-24:

“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

In these verses (and also in Matthew 19:1-9), God reveals that it was God that brought Eve to Adam; and it was God that joined Adam and Eve; and “…What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). Thus it is concluded from Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7-25; and Matthew 19:1-10, that God is the Originator of Marriage, or the joining of one male to one female, which Christ called the husband and the wife; that they become one.

Since God is the Author of Marriage, it is holy, honorable, and undefiled. The Home is the very foundation of regulating His creation. God created the avenue of success for a male and a female in His world through marriage. God created sex between a male and female to be exercised in marriage only. God did not create sin, adultery, and fornication; man created sin (James 1:15). What God created was pure, righteous, and good for mankind. Man messed it up by his sin.

Contrary to some beliefs:

1. God did not create a monster in marriage.
2. God did not design marriage as only a legal contract to be carried out without passion and love.
3. God did not create marriage as a means to gain financially.
4. God did not create marriage for the partners to become insensitive and even enemies.

No, God designed marriage for the husband and wife – not only for the reasons previously stated – but also for their physical enjoyment, satisfaction, and completeness. God created this beautiful union between a male and female to taste His Love and to reap the Benefits of Obedience to His Commandments in marriage.

These benefits include: joy, happiness, health, wealth, wisdom, sexual satisfaction, companionship, fellowship, and having someone to share life and life’s ups and downs with. The benefits include experiencing true love and its characteristics; learning to share; learning to give and take; learning to honor, respect, and consider your soul mate. There are also the benefits of seeing the expression of love in each other’s eyes and feeling it in their touch; hearing the words of love and receiving the deeds of love; experiencing the pleasure of love; and being able to express love to one another.

Therefore, according to Ephesians 5:33 and Matthew 19:4-6, marriage was not an afterthought with God. But it was the Purpose of God to bring Him Honor and Praise, and for the good of His People.

God’s People must come to realize that God had a Plan; and He gave certain rules to follow for marriage to be righteous, holy, and satisfying. When His rules are not followed, there will be grave consequences that will affect the partners of the marriage individually, and the offspring of the marriage, and friends of the marriage, and the moral fabric of the entire society, and even the church.

“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).

Second, the Spiritual Reasons

a) God’s Plan of Redemption: The familiar story of Genesis 3 relates the sin of Adam and Eve, which has thrown the entire human race into sin (Romans 5:12; 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22); or into spiritual death (complete spiritual separation from God; Romans 6:23). Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s law (Genesis 2:16-17):

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

However, through the Fall of Man comes this reason of creating male and female: God’s Plan of Redemption in the second Adam, Christ (Romans 5:1-21; 1 Corinthians 15:22). God would be manifest in the flesh (Genesis 3:15; Luke 1:31-35; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 10:1-18; John 1:1-18); that He would be the Lamb of God (John 1:29; Hebrews 2:14). He would become the sinner’s Sacrifice for sin (sin’s payment); Substitute for the sinner (Isaiah 53:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21); Savior for the sinner (Romans 3:24-25; 5:1-2; Ephesians 1:7); the sinner’s Great High Priest (Hebrews 7, 9, 10); and be King of kings and Lord of lords.

b) To be one in Christ: His Body, His Bride. The other part of this reason is for the husband and wife  to become one spiritually. God’s plan for creating man and woman, and making them one flesh, is a Mystery of God; revealed in Christ and the Church, His Bride, becoming one in Christ (Ephesians 5:31-32):

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

Jesus told the Apostles in John 17:21-26 the answer to this great mystery of Ephesians 5:32. According to John 17:24, God has ordained the Ones given to Christ to come to a state of Oneness with Him and the Father; it is a state of perfection, even glorification. Therefore, the physical union between a male and a female in marriage types out a great Spiritual Truth of Christ and His Bride.

When God’s People follow His rules as outlined and detailed in His written Word, then there is an experience within the marriage union of joy, happiness, peace, satisfaction, and completeness that cannot be matched in any other earthly relationship. Marriage is truly a Gift from God when the marriage follows God’s Instructions.

The testimony of husbands and wives when their marriage is in Christ, for Christ, and through Christ will be:

Truly we have found favor with God. We had no idea that marriage could be this fulfilling and complete. We have no spoken language or written word to describe the beauty of His love working in us and out of us in the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. We have never tasted such sweetness of love. We have never been so alive as we are now. And we see the nature of His love for the Church greater than ever before. This love that we are experiencing is causing us to seek Him more and more, desiring oneness with Him.

Summary

To summarize the Plan of God in A Godly Home (in a Godly Marriage), the fact is that God did have a Plan in marriage – a Spiritual Plan and a Physical Plan – for His Honor and for His Children’s good. The Plan did not happen after His creation, but was ordained and predestinated in the secret counsel hall of God before time ever was.

This Plan is ultimately revealed in the woman named Mary, who was used of God to create for God a human body without sin in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:27-35; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:6-17; 10:1-15). This Plan is culminated in Christ (the God-Man), as His Seed’s Substitute, made atonement for sin and its penalty and punishment through the offering of Himself in His Body as the Sacrifice for sin that pleased God (Isaiah 53:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:24-25); and in His exalted position as Head of His Body, the Church (Ephesians 1:19-23).

This is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:32, that oneness in marriage is a mystery, for it speaks of Christ and His Church, His Bride. For the ultimate design in marriage is to type out the Oneness of Christ’s Bride, the Church, in Him. (See John 17:21-26.) This is a Prepared Place by Christ; a Promised Place for His People (John 14:1-6; Romans 8:28-39); and a Preeminent Place for His Bride as they come to Perfection (Glorification) in Him.