Titus 2:1-8; Ephesians 5:22-33

Considering the times in which we are living, COVID-19 has brought many new challenges into our marriages.

God wants your dreams to come true in your marriage because pleasure is not an end product, but a by-product. All of us start marriage without any experience, so it is only natural that it’s difficult. Therefore, great value must be placed on the marriage covenant. First, we must understand five basic principles of marriage:

  • God made man and woman different from one another – Genesis 1:26-27.
  • God recognized man’s need for a companion – Genesis 2:18-23.
  • God established certain principles in marriage – Genesis 2:24-25.
    • The principle of separation – to give up, to abandon
    • The principle of singleness – to cleave, glued, pasted together
    • The principle of one flesh – one mind and purpose
    • The principle of openness – an open relationship with no secrets
  • There must be equality—not equal rights.
    • Each has a different function.
    • No inferiority
    • No dictatorship
    • Yielding on both sides
  • Great value must be placed on the marriage contract, agreement or covenant.
    • Complete acceptance by both.
    • Commitment to each other.
    • Consistency for life.
    • Compatibility as one flesh.

Second, we must understand that marriage is a permanent, life-long covenant.

Mathew 19:5, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.”

Marriage does not eliminate problems, but creates more. Marriage fails when people stop trying. Jesus identifies with people in trouble. Harmonious marriages include seven common things:

  1. Faith and trust of each other
  2. Love, even when not lovable
  3. Courage in times of trouble
  4. Patience with the other’s weaknesses
  5. A little bit of intelligence helps.
  6. A lot of common sense
  7. A great deal of perseverance

When God saw man was alone, He made a helper appropriate to his needs. Marriages are not necessarily made in heaven, but as someone said, “They are hammered out in the workshop of pain and problems, discouragements and disagreements, and fear and trials by the hammer of time on the anvil of reality.” Eve was God’s love gift to Adam.

  • Marriage was designed to meet needs and to satisfy one another.
  • Success is the result if we meet each other’s needs. (We cannot be immature about it.)
  • Mature women must teach the younger women:

Titus 2:3-4, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.”

In a Christian marriage, a man and woman must unite with two hands clasping as one, and genuine, biblical love is the key to it all.

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Hans Nikoley, GSBC Staff

Bro. Nikoley emigrated from Germany to the United States with his family at age 13. He served full time in the Nevada Air National Guard for six years. At age 32, He was saved, and in 1977, he graduated from Bible College. He pastored for over 31 years, 27 of them at Pomerado Road Baptist Church in Poway, California. Bro. Nikoley has served at Golden State Baptist College in the Bible Department and also as the Student Employment Director since 2007. He and his wife Mary have two children and have been married for 58 years.