Restart // Relationships // Marriage: A Profound Mystery / A Gospel Issue

The Bible presents a narrative of love that reveals the fundamental nature of our universe as one based on

relationships. It begins by stating that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1), and that

He designed a joyful garden for a couple named Adam and Eve. The story concludes with the promise of a

new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1) where Jesus and his bride will find their eternal home. Marriage,

far from being a human creation, is showcased in the Bible as a divine revelation and precious gift.

The Book Of Common Prayer begins the wedding ceremony this way:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this Congregation,

to ioin together this Man, and this woman in holy Matrimony, which is an honourable estate, instituted of

God in the time of mans innocency, signifying into vs the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his

Church: which holy estate Christ adorned, and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he

wrought in Cana of Galilee, and is commended of St Paul to be honourable among all men, and therefore

is not by any to be enterprized, nor taken in hand inadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy mens

carnal lusts, and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly,

advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was

ordeined.

(The Book of Common Prayer from the Original Manuscript: Attached to the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Eyre &

Spottiswoode), 1892, p. 294.)

Today we are told that a God-centered vision of marriage is mistaken, even oppressive. Marriage used to be a

public institution for the common good, and now it is a private arrangement for the satisfaction of the

individuals. Marriage used to be about us, but now it is about me. Genesis reveals something different as the

Bible begins to explain the meaning of marriage, showing both glory and brokenness. All our personal stories with both our glory and our shame, started in the garden of Eden. Don’t hide from God because of guilt,

shame, or failure because as we embrace the brokenness of life, we begin the journey back to God and

healing. The gospel means that every marriage can RESTART.