The Human Person: The Image of God Created and Restored

Today’s reading continues in SectionIV: The Human Person – The Image of God Created and Restored. Read here.

The Christian understanding of marriage and singleness

The first reference to marriage in the Bible indicates that marriage is God ordained and depicts marriage as the exclusive bond of one man and one woman. This results in a new entity that the Bible refers to as “one flesh.” We affirm, therefore, that according to God’s design, marriage is a unique and exclusive covenant-relationship between one man and one woman, who commit themselves to a lifelong physical and emotional union of mutual love and sharing. (Gen 2:24; Matt 19:4-6)

Furthermore, the biblical teaching is consistent that covenant marriage is the only legitimate context for sexual intercourse. Sex outside the bounds of marriage is declared to be a sinful violation of the Creator’s design and intent.

We lament all attempts in the church to define same-sex partnerships as biblically valid marriages. We grieve that some Christian denominations and local congregations have acquiesced to the demands of culture and claim to consecrate such relationships as marriages.

We affirm that marriage is intended by God to serve human flourishing by providing the necessary context for the nurture of succeeding generations. Faithful marriages allow for strong bonds of family life, appropriately delimiting freedom and creating the bounded and nurturing environment that enables children to thrive.

The biblical vision of marriage includes the fulfilment of the Creator’s mandate to procreate, and simultaneously provides companionship and pleasure for the couple. We are saddened that the pursuit of sexual freedom as a perceived personal and social good has downplayed the procreational aspect of marital sex, which has often led to the devaluing of children and the dramatic increase in abortions globally. (Gen 1:28; 2:18-25)

The Christian marriage is modelled on the relationship of Christ and the church, and therefore constitutes a unique means of witness to the outworking of the gospel, as the husband and wife fulfil their responsibilities to one another as disciples under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christians who choose to marry must invest the necessary effort to care for their marital relationship and for the upbringing of children who may be born to them or adopted by them. (Eph 5:22-31)

While marriage has been the assumed ideal for adults in all societies, and in marriage husband and wife complement each other, marriage is not an essential step to make a person complete. Both married and single persons are fully able to fulfil the Creator’s will and bear witness to Jesus Christ. Each individual, created in the image of God, is a complete person with maximum potential within the context of other human relationships. The Lord Jesus, the ideal human, exemplified this truth about the life of singleness. The apostle Paul positively argued that singleness, whether circumstantial or vocational, offered the Christian unique opportunities to serve the cause of the kingdom of God in ways not possible for those who are married. (1 Cor 7:32-35)

We call all local churches to support both singles and married couples within the community of Christian believers through teaching, mentoring, and networks of mutual encouragement and practical support. Such a community witnesses to the power of the gospel by modelling the biblical values of deep friendships, love and faithfulness in marriage, the honouring of parents, and the dedicated nurture of children within the context of loyalty to the lordship of Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God.