““Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Christ nourishes and cherishes His body because we are members of His body. Just as we humans care for our bodies, Jesus cares for His body which happens to include us. This is the truth that ended verse 30.

Now verse 31 begins with the word, therefore. Because of the truth we have just studied in the previous verses and Christ’s love and care for His body ,… because of those truths, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

The nature of marriage in the leaving and joining of two into one is a picture of the truth of Christ being one body with the church. He is the head. We are members of His body. Some manuscripts even add the words “of His flesh and of His bones” at the end of verse 30. We need to recognize that if we have trusted Christ, we have been joined literally to Him. Marriage is to be a picture of this truth lived out in living color for the world to see.

When marriages break up, it is a violent thing, according to Malachi, and covers ones garments with blood. Divorce not only destroys the marriage, but it destroys the picture of Christ and the church and gives the world a false impression of the reality of that union.

This section wraps up with the challenge to each of us to love his wife as he loves himself. And the wife is given the challenge to respect her husband. The times we live in are not favorable to marriage, but we Christians need to do all we can with God’s help to live the married life in a way that is honoring to God and a testimony to the world.

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