In our modern western culture, both the understanding of what a covenant is and the recognition of its importance is not commonly known. This lack of knowledge has directly or indirectly destroyed many marriages. It is of supreme importance that every Christian should fully understand the seriousness that God assigns to all covenants, especially those that pertain to His children.
The New Covenant, the covenant that provides for our salvation and our adoption into God’s family is, of course, the most important of all covenants. The second most important covenant is the Marriage Covenant, which is not only important to us, but in God’s eyes is indissoluble, and cannot be broken, except for very well-defined reasons. As a result, God hates divorce, just as He hates the breaking of any covenant.
“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 5:32 New International Version (NIV)
The need for a deep and full understanding of this issue is so important that we will devote an entire chapter to ensure we have a clear knowledge of what the Marriage Covenant is and how God sees it.
God established marriage as a covenant, not a contract. It is important to understand the difference between these two. Three important differences exist:
- A covenant is based on trust between the parties involved. A contract is based on distrust and designed to ensure its fulfillment.
- A covenant is based on unlimited responsibility and a full commitment throughout a lifetime. A contract is based on limited responsibility of its terms, for a designated period of time.
- A covenant cannot be broken if new circumstances occur even by mutual consent. A contract can be voided by mutual consent.
Part Two Chapter Two of The Fulfilled Marriage completely covers what the marriage covenant means, how important it is, and among other things, “how God feels about covenants”. Hint: God deals with man primarily through covenants.
TOPICS: Divine Plan and Marriage Covenant, Divorce
