Bible Verses About Marriage: Characteristics of a Godly Union

Getting married is a huge commitment and whether a marriage is a happy and thriving one depends on different factors. There has been a significant shift in marriage in recent decades with some people questioning the necessity and relevance of marriage. There are many relevant Bible verses about marriage that may be applied.

The length of a marriage is not necessarily proof of a happy and thriving marriage. Yet when couples divorce within a few years of getting married, it can be proof that something has gone fundamentally wrong.

Christian couples should endeavor to have long and happy marriages. The chances of achieving this are high if they involve God from the very beginning of their marriages.

Bible Verses about Marriage

Marriage is a relationship involving two people. The direction it takes depends on the spouses’ willingness and ability to work together for a common purpose: a long and happy marriage. Here are Bible verses to help us understand God’s will for marriage.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? – 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, NIV

One of the most important things of which to be mindful is to look for someone with whom you are compatible. Compatibility in thiscontext does not imply sameness. Instead, it connotes the sharing of similar values, principles, beliefs and most importantly the ability to reach amicable agreements when differences arise.

Most people have different views on topics like finances, parenting styles, and setting boundaries with extended family members. These are topics that most couples often face. If you marry someone to whom you are not equally yoked in faith, it may have disastrous consequences for your marriage because you need to be on the same page on the most basic level.

Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. – Proverbs 19:14, NIV

This verse is important because it reminds unmarried people to pray to God for marriage partners. After all, only He can provide someone sensible and fitting. Before getting married, therefore, pray that God blesses you with a wife or a husband who is God-fearing and compatible with you so that you may have a happy marriage.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24, NIV

This verse shows that God approves of marriage. It also shows that newly married couples are expected to come together for a common purpose and their mutual benefit. Leaving one’s father and mother symbolizes a new beginning for newly married couples who need to start their own family.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, NIV

These verses highlight the biblical perspective of the mutual benefits of a God-ordained marriage including companionship and intimacy. When you decide to get married, always remember that for your marriage to succeed, God must be a part of it every step of the way.

Characteristics of a Godly Marriage

Many Bible verses about marriage show what a godly marriage looks like. The following verses show characteristics of a godly marriage, including submission, love, physical intimacy, and forgiveness.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body for which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. – Ephesians 5:22-24, NIV

Wives are urged to willingly submit to their husbands just like believers submit to Christ for their good. This verse does not exist as a power play, but it exists to encourage harmony and trust in the marriage. If both parties willingly play their parts, with the husband diligently and lovingly leading and the wife willingly submitting to such leadership, such a marriage will thrive.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church. – Ephesians 5:25-29, NIV

The love described here is deep, sacrificial, and selfless. This is the type of love that is needed if a marriage is to thrive and flourish. This instruction must be taken as an extension of the one on submission.

It is easier to follow if one understands that a marriage is meant for mutual benefit and must serve a common purpose. If husbands and wives respectively follow these instructions, harmony would reign in their marriages.

But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his wife, and each woman with her husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband.

In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time so that you may devote yourself to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. – 1 Corinthians 7:2-5, NIV

Unless there are underlying health issues, healthy and successful marriages must have physical intimacy for the mutual benefit of both a husband and a wife. Some spouses deprive their partner of sex as a way of getting back at them. But the Bible is highlighting how that can create big problems which ultimately shake the core of marriage.

In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. – Ephesians 4:6, NIV

Contrary to the happily-ever-after narrative in movies and fairytales, marriages will bring moments when spouses are angry with each other. The Bible does not say you can never be angry, which means anger as a feeling is a normal human reaction.

However, couples need to be able to resolve their issues and forgive each other.
Spouses need conflict resolution solutions that will enable them to resolve any issues between them. They can forgive each other and move on because failure to do that will breed bitterness.

Christian Marriage Counseling in Loma Linda

Marriage is both beautiful and complex, but the complexities can be made lighter if marriages are founded on godly principles. Many other Bible verses on marriage are applicable to single people who intend to marry and couples that are already married. If you want to know more about godly marriages, reach out to us at Loma Linda Christian Counseling in California and we would be happy to assist you.