The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Brooke R. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Research - Sanctity of Marriage
In today's culture, marriage is seen not as a holy institution, but as something that "ties you down", or that is old fashioned. Sex, once relegated to marriage alone, is now given freely. Is marriage truly sanctified? Did God really want us to be "stuck" with one person for our entire life? The Bible carries numerous passages discussing these issues.
In Genesis 2:18-24, the institution of marriage is created, and we see the reason God gives for marriage: "Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."…The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man 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." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."
Marriage was created by God, because he saw that man should not be alone. Notably, Adam's wife was made from a part of his body—for generations to come, this symbolically represents that married couples are truly "one flesh". Also, God created one woman for Adam—not many. God's ideal design for marriage was between one man and one woman.
Genesis 12:10-19 "…Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe. As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, '…tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.' When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.…So Abram's wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh, and he did treat Abram well on account of her…. But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, 'What is this you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!'"
In this early example of marriages not being exclusive, God brought punishment on the offenders—even though they did not know she was married. Clearly, God intended marriage to be between Abram and Sarai, and no one else.
Genesis 39:7-10: It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "…How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?" As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her."
Joseph, a godly man, knew that to give in to Potiphar's wife would be wrong, and so refused to do so—even though it resulted in his going to jail.
Most obviously, the Bible condemns adultery in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14): "You shall not commit adultery."
Fidelity in marriage has a purpose other than avoiding emotional scarring or disease: it also represents how our relationship with God should be. When we stray from God, he compares it to adultery. Jeremiah 5:7-9: "'Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by those who are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, They committed adultery And trooped to the harlot's house. They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish these people,' declares the LORD, 'And on a nation such as this? Shall I not avenge Myself?'"
Not only is adultery prohibited by God; it also leads to a lack of understanding. Hosea 4:11-12: "Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, and the diviner's wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God."
Matthew 19:9 "'And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery.'" Here, Jesus illustrates how the sanctity of marriage is shattered through adultery, by allowing divorce because of infidelity. This illustrates that when that bond is broken, the marriage has suffered a devastating blow.
1 Corinthians 6:15 takes a more practical stance in defense of the sanctity of marriage: "'Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? …Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh.' But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality! 'Every sin a person commits is outside of the body' – but the immoral person sins against his own body…glorify God with your body.'"
Even before statistical evidence showed that sexual immorality led to emotional and physical problems, marital troubles, and various diseases, Jesus pointed out that sexual immorality damages our own bodies. Because we belong to God, it is our duty to glorify Him with our bodies, which includes respecting the sanctity of marriage.
A number of passages illustrate the point that in order to best bring glory and honor to God, we are to remain sexually pure and honor the sanctity of marriage.
Ephesians 5:28-30: "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body."
2 Timothy 2:21-22: "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, …For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification."
