This morning I led a Sunday school class on the Biblical foundation of marriage. It was the final week of a series our senior pastor had done. My assignment was to wrap up what he had done by providing the Biblical basis for what he had shared in the weeks before.
As I was praying and thinking through the assignment something occurred to me that is probably obvious, but in my experience has not been emphasized. Marriage is an exercise in joint discipleship. Couples yes are expected to grow together, but believers are also expected to grow toward the Lord.
The passage that most think of when they are approaching marriage is Ephesians 5:15 – 6:9. I share that as a unit because of the verbal structure in the original. The imperatives in 15 – 21 drive the force of the participles that follow in 22 – 6:9. When you consider the direction of 15 – 21 in light of the overall context of Ephesians 4 – 6, one sees that the “marriage” section is a subset of Paul’s exhortation and expectation that as believers we are to respond to the lavish grace of God by walking with one another in unity committed to building one another up in each other’s faith. The context is dense with the notion of intentional ministry to one another
That supports the idea that marriage is an exercise in joint discipleship. Husband and wife minister to one another to build each other up in Christ. Since that is the case it brings most if not all of the passages we typically consider instructing us in discipleship to bear on the marriage relationship.
What do you think about that?
The passage that most think of when they are approaching marriage is Ephesians 5:15 – 6:9. I share that as a unit because of the verbal structure in the original. The imperatives in 15 – 21 drive the force of the participles that follow in 22 – 6:9. When you consider the direction of 15 – 21 in light of the overall context of Ephesians 4 – 6, one sees that the “marriage” section is a subset of Paul’s exhortation and expectation that as believers we are to respond to the lavish grace of God by walking with one another in unity committed to building one another up in each other’s faith. The context is dense with the notion of intentional ministry to one another
That supports the idea that marriage is an exercise in joint discipleship. Husband and wife minister to one another to build each other up in Christ. Since that is the case it brings most if not all of the passages we typically consider instructing us in discipleship to bear on the marriage relationship.
What do you think about that?
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