By Doug Shamblin

In the wedding scene of the movie The Princess Bride an impressive clergyman begins the ceremony by trying to say, “Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today. Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream.” Many women (and some men) dream of how their wedding day will be. 

We may or may not have the fairy tale marriage we have dreamed about but we can all live in a good marriage when we follow God’s idea for marriage. 

God’s Idea

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18). God’s creative work was not complete until he made woman. He could have made her from the dust of the ground as he did the man. But he did not. God made woman (Eve) from the flesh and bone of the man (Adam). This is an example that in marriage man and woman symbolically become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 emphasizes this very idea: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (New American Standard Bible). 

When tested by the Pharisees about the subject of divorce, Jesus reminded his listeners that God was the one who established marriage and that the divorce decree was given to them as a concession by Moses. He reminded them that God intended marriage to be permanent.

More Than Friendship

Genesis 2:22, 23 says, “The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’” 

There is a special bond between a woman and man when they become one in marriage. It is great that the husband and wife become friends. But the goal in marriage should be more than friendship; it should be an indistinguishable unity of spirit. 

Doug Shamblin lives in Pomeroy, Ohio with his wife, Sherry. He has served with churches and para-church organizations in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He is the director of children’s ministries with the Middleport, Ohio Church of Christ and chaplain for the Middleport Police Department.