Marriage and the Cross of Christ

MVNT 361-376

1. The Canonical Perspective on Marriage: Permanent Monogamy

• Genesis 1:26-31
• Genesis 2:18-25
• Hosea 3:1; 14:4, 7
• Malachi 2:14-16
• Ephesians 5:21-33
  • Adam and Eve as one flesh (Gen 2:24; Eph 5:31)
  • husband and wife as one flesh (Eph 5:28-29)
  • Christ and church as head and body (Eph 5:23, 29-30, 32)
• Hebrews 13:4
• Revelation 19:6-9

2. Discussion Questions

• Is Christian marriage and divorce a private matter, or is it the responsibility of the community? (Cf. Hays, 364-65.)

• Is Christian marriage a call to suffer? Can a marriage be successful without suffering and "death"? Does the NT portray the suffering of each partner differently? (Cf. Hays, 365-366.)
  • Matthew 19:9-12
  • 1 Corinthians 7:12-13
  • 1 Corinthians 7:28-35
  • Ephesians 5:21-33
  • 1 Peter 3:1-7

• How can Christian marriage foreshadow the age to come if, in that age, there will be no marriage (Luke 20:27-40; Matt 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27)? (Cf. Hays, 366, 374.)

• Might the church today identify other legitimate grounds for divorce, in addition to the Matthean and Pauline exceptions? (Cf. Hays, 372.) How might this hermeneutical activity proceed? How might it be constrained?