Christian marriage is a union of love between husband and wife, in which, God who is love, is the binding force (Matt 19:6). In other words, God unites husband and wife. In His plan they are no longer two, but one (Gen 2:24; Matt 19:5; Eph 5:31). This means that they have to surrender their entire being to the other and husbands have to love their wife as Christ loves His Church (Eph 5:25). In fact their bond is stronger than that between them and their parents; they therefore, leave their parents and unite with their spouse (Mark 10:7). Because God is the binding force in their union and God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), it is impossible to break the bond (Matt 19:6). Jesus clearly tells us that no one should separate what God has joined together (Matt 19:6). Therefore, even when divorced people remarry, their first spouse is the only real spouse. Therefore, sexual relationship with any other person becomes adultery (Luke 16:18). Since God is the binding force, an attempt at rejecting the bond is an attempt at rejecting God. Divorce is therefore, against God. God therefore, hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and is not pleased with the offerings of those who divorce their spouse (Malachi 2: 13-14). Divorce is absolutely prohibited by Jesus (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 6:18), except when the marriage was illicit (Matt 5:32). The word in the Greek text for this exemption is porneia; which in no way means adultery (the Greek word for adultery is moiceia).
Forgiveness is the very heart of Christianity, because, Christianity has to do with redemption and redemption has to do with forgiveness. The whole redemption history revolves around God’s forgiveness. Although we are continually unfaithful to God He does not abandon us; on the contrary He sacrificed His own life to compensate for the sins (Matthew 26:27-28) we committed against Him. If we have to accept His forgiveness we have to believe in it by showing the same type of forgiveness to others (Matt 6:12)-especially our spouse. We must never give up, because, God does not give up on us. Sometimes, the stresses of marriage may seem unbearable, especially if our spouse is alcoholic, abusive, mentally ill or unfaithful. In such situations, we can stay faithful to our commitment; by remembering, how Jesus compensated for our wrong doings, when we were unfaithful to him and wronged him. We should continually pray and make sacrifices for the conversion of our spouse. In our prayers, we should surrender ourselves completely to God’s will, and ask Him to be our thoughts, feelings, desires and actions.
