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A Firm Foundation for Marriage

Marriage is a union between two total persons. This includes a spiritual union. An enriched marriage will involve a level of spiritual wholeness. An individual and a shared relationship with God will bring about this wholeness. The Bible is about relationships: relationship with God and relationships with each other. There is relationship even within God, within the Godhead, and this spills over into the dynamics of human relationship, and especially within marriage. The Book of Ephesians brings u the building blocks. It was written to a church, but when people pick up its principles, they can enter into and own all of which it speaks.

Chosen from Eternity

Could you imagine having been chosen from eternity, before God even created the world? Could you believe that God knew your name even before your parents chose it? Can you imagine that this choice by God was so that you could be holy and without blame before him, and that he chose to send Jesus to bring this about? Read Ephesians 1: 4ff

A new Identity with Christ

God called you into a new relationship with him. He did not do this on account of your record, your works, niceness or achievement. It was given to us as an undeserved gift. That gift was in the Father giving his Son unto death on the Cross. That gift was further manifested in the forgiveness that we are freely offered. Read Ephesians 2: 1-10

Out of Darkness into Light

Between heaven and earth there is a tension and strife brought about by Satan, the devil. He 2: 2 as "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience". Paul says that when people have decide to commit their lives to Christ a process has occurred where they are taken out of Satan's sphere of power and transferred into a place of companionship with God. "And you he made alive, when you were dead through trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air… But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us… made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with him, and made us sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus…"(Ephesians 2: 1-7)

Linking Heaven with Earth

Christians are amphibious. In a sense, we are already seated with Christ and the Father "in heaven", and yet we walk on the earth. As much as we draw from our relationship with Christ in heaven, to that extent we are enabled to live effectively on this earth. The more we commit our marriages to Christ, the more effective and fulfilled will be the experience on earth of the relationship which husband and wife have together.

Truth and Love

God wants us to experience the love of Christ "which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3: 18-19. This will manifest itself in proper ways of communicating. Ephesians 4: 17 - 5:20 give details. "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into… Christ." These chapters discuss issues of purity, faithfulness, forgiveness, truth and honesty.

Order and Beauty

When Christ ascended to heaven after his death and resurrection, he established order in his church. He gave special gifts that would establish proper order and effective vision within the church (Ephesians 4: 8-16). Paul compares the relationship of Christ and thee church with that of husband and wife. This occurs in Ephesians 5: 21-31. A husband should love his wife with the same of self-sacrificial love with which Christ's love for the Church led him to die for it. Christ loves and nourishes the church like a good husband will nourish and cherish his wife.

The Spirit of God

We are encouraged to keep being filled with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The effect of this will be seen in thankfulness, joy, praise and worship and mutual submission to one another.

Protocols of Relationship

Husbands are to be self-sacrificial in their love for their wives, and wives are to accept their husband's lead in the same way that the church should submit to Christ. The mutual responsibilities of children and parents are also indicated. {Ephesians 6: 1-4)

Fight the Good Fight

We are encouraged to take our stand against the assaults of our unseen enemy, Satan and all his demons. Our main weapons are salvation, faith, truth, reconciliation, Christ's righteousness, and the Word of God. We should pray constantly with all forms of prayer. Lindsay Johnstone Copyright 2001 J. H. L. Johnstone

Lindsay Johnstone

Copyright J. H. L. Johnstone, 2001 All rights reserved

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