Since marriage is a “God Thing” as I discussed yesterday we cannot miss the fact that this makes it a very sacred relationship. God is either very bad at math, or He’s very serious about our marriage vows. To him one plus one does not equal two. It equals one! The Bible’s first description of the marriage union is found in Genesis 2:18-24. Jesus quotes this account and then adds a little bit to it. He answered those who didn’t understand His math and said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, (He then quotes from Genesis) therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. (He then adds something!) What therefore God has joined together let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6). Notice the shift in relationship between an individual and his parents and the transfer of a bond through marriage.
The word from which the above translation renders “hold fast” is most often translated as “cleave.” It literally means “glued” or even better “fused” together. This is not like two liquids joined together that lose their individual characteristics, rather, it’s like two metals fused together by another element which is the bond. I would argue that the bonding element is God. It’s not sex. It’s not companionship. It’s not financial benefit! It’s God.
I read an article recently addressing single people to wait until they “meet the one” before they marry. Of course it meant a variety of things: The one that turns me on, the one that makes me feel special, or the one who makes me feel secure. It argued that when you “meet the one” (emphasis on the ONE) you will know it. My point this morning is that you already know the one. When Jesus was asked by several people what the greatest commandment was he replied that it was to love God with our whole hearts, souls, minds and strength.” He then added that the second commandment was to “love your neighbor as yourself.” No matter what your human relationships are, the “ONE” is and must remain “God.” He’s number one! We must love Him first. As children the #2 is our parents. As adults the number #2 should be our wives. When God is actually number 1, he becomes the glue, the weld, the fusion, that enables us to “hold fast, cleave” to one another in God’s sacred institution of Holy Matrimony.