KEYWORDS: wife, husband, husbands, man, wives, god

Scriptures on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage, The

David Berg

--MOJanuary 1969No.Q

1. IT IS NOT GOOD THAT MAN SHOULD BE ALONE: I will make an help meet for him. So God created man in His own image. Male and female created He them and God blessed them, and said unto them. Be fruitful and multiply. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh (Gen.1:27-28; 2:18-24).

2. WHOSO FINDETH A WIFE FINDETH A GOOD THING, and obtaineth favour of the Lord (Pro.18:22). A prudent wife is from the Lord. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband (Pro.19:14; 12:4). Marriage is honourable in all and the bed undefiled (Heb.13:4). Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence (loving): also the wife unto the husband. Defraud ye not one another, except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again that Satan temp you not for your incontinency. If they cannot contain‚ let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. If thou marry thou hast not sinned; If any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if the need so require let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry (1Cor.7:2-5; 9:28‚36).

3. WIVES, SUBMIT YOURSELVES UNTO YOUR HUSBANDS‚ as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything (Eph.5:22–24).

4. HUSBANDS, LOVE YOUR WIVES, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. Let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband (Eph.5:25-33).

5. I WILL THEREFORE THAT THE YOUNGER WOMEN MARRY, bear children, guide the house (1Tim.5:14).

6. IN THE LATTER TIMES some shall depart from the faith forbidding to marry (1Tim.4:1–3).

7. LIKEWISE, YE WIVES, BE IN SUBJECTION TO YOUR OWN HUSBANDS; that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord: whose daughters ye are‚ as long as ye do well (1Pet.3:1-6).

8. LIKEWISE, YE HUSBANDS, DWELL WITH THEM ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life (1Pet.3:7. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them (Col.3:19).

9. TEACH THE YOUNG WOMEN TO BE SOBER, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet chaste keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands (Tit.2:4-5). Who can find a virtuous women? ... For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. She will do him good not evil (Pro.31:10,12).

10. WHAT THEREFORE GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN PUT ASUNDER. Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication (adultery, unfaithfulness), and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery (Mt.5:32; 19:9). And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another she committeth adultery (Mk.10:12). Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife (1Cor.7:10-11).

11. IF ANY BROTHER HATH A WIFE THAT BELIEVETH NOT, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her‚ let her not leave him. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou‚ O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

12. BUT IF THE UNBELIEVING DEPART, LET HIM DEPART. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace (1Cor.7:12–16). Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold‚ all things are become new (2Cor.5:17). Forgetting those things which are behind ... press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil.3:13-14). I have blotted out, as a thick cloud‚ thy transgressions. I will remember their sin no more (Isa 44:22; Jer 31:34).