Counsel #7 — Covenantal Marriage

Picture: Counsel #7 — Covenantal MarriageCR 78.1

God chooses the sacred bond of marriage to illustrate the closeness of the bond between Himself and His people. In the Bible the promise by which married couples are bound together is spoken of as a “covenant”—the term used for the most solemn and binding agreement known in God’s Word. As God is faithful to His people, so the married man and woman are to center their covenant with each other on faithfulness and love.^{[75]https://familyfire.com/articles/your-marriage-covenant-or-contract}CR 78.2

The covenant vow that a man and woman make to each other in marriage culminates in sexual intimacy, which the Bible refers to as becoming “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). God intended married sexual relations to be honorable and undefiled, a physical representation of the spiritual covenant of love and faithfulness.CR 78.3

“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4 NKJVCR 78.4

“Jesus did not enforce celibacy upon any class of men. He came not to destroy the sacred relationship of marriage, but to exalt it and restore it to its original sanctity. He looks with pleasure upon the family relationship where sacred and unselfish love bears sway.” Ellen White in The Adventist Home, p. 121CR 78.5

Reflect: Were you raised to believe that God invented sex to be pleasurable to both husband and wife in the marriage covenant?CR 78.6