Re-painted Lines & An Image Worth Preserving

By: D.T. Powell

The marriage relationship has existed since the beginning of time. At the end of Genesis 2, God forms
Eve from Adam’s rib. The two are then immediately referred to as “the man and his wife.” (Gen. 2:25
KJV)

We see this pattern of marriage between a man and a woman repeated throughout the Old and New
Testaments. At times, we also see the marriage relationship altered: polygamy, extra-marital or pre-
marital sexual activity, homosexuality, and most instances of divorce.

Any time humanity attempts to alter the God-given standard of marriage (one man and one woman
together for life) heartache and other life-changing consequences follow. That’s because our all-knowing,
all-mighty God purposefully designed the world and humanity. But humanity chose to sin, and so cursed
ourselves and our world. One of the results of that curse is our sin nature pulling us away from God and
His desire for us to become Christlike. When people choose to change or outright dismiss God’s design,
we set ourselves up for trouble, because we’re not using what God gave us in the intended way.

We’ve all seen “for external use only” and “do not eat” warning labels. That’s because someone, at some
point, decided to use that product in a way its creators never intended. That unintended use caused harm.
Chances are, these products have advertising, websites, and other easily accessible supplemental
information that make clear how the product is supposed to be used. But not everyone heeds those
instructions and examples.

The same is true of Biblical marriage. God provides us with a host of examples and instruction in the
Bible, but not everyone chooses to believe what God has said. Not even all Christians choose to accept
what some would term “traditional marriage.”

But why is marriage significant? What makes it so important that we preserve it in its Genesis 2 form?
After all, society, culture, and modern views of morality say it doesn’t matter how or what we love. So
long as we’re sincere in it and aren’t hurting others, there’s no problem.
In the Bible, it’s common for the Old Testament to illustrate something that is more fully explained in the
New Testament. Marriage is one of those illustrations.

Most Christians are familiar with the Bible’s portrayal of the church as “the bride of Christ.” (Eph. 5:32;
Rev. 21:9) In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul gives us a little more insight into the connection between
marriage and the relationship between Christ and the church. In verses 25-27 (KJV), Paul writes,
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish.”

He goes on to write in verses 28-30 (KJV), “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it,
even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”
This statement that “we are […] of his flesh, and of his bones” is the very image we get all the way back
in Genesis 2 when God used Adam’s rib to form Eve. The first thing Adam says upon seeing Eve is,
“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” (Gen. 2:23a KJV)

God created woman from a piece of man. Eve literally shared a piece of Adam’s body. She wasn’t a man,
but she had an inherent sameness with him because she was made out of part of him.
Similarly, the church is most definitely not Christ, but we, having salvation “in Him” are joined to Christ
in a unique way.

In the marriage relationship, the husband is a symbol of Christ. That doesn’t mean every husband is
Christ-like, or that he will fill his role well, but it does mean he is part of the same divine illustration God
began with Adam and Eve. This also means each wife is a symbol of the church. Again, that does not
mean she will remain pure and faithful (as the church ought to be), or that she will ever learn how to love
her husband well. But she is the other half of that divine illustration.

When people take this image of Christ’s connection with and love toward the church and paint over it,
they declare they know better than God Himself, that the God-given picture of Christ and the church is
somehow flawed—or worse, irrelevant.

Preserving the Biblical form of marriage is not about personal preferences, feelings, or even politics. It’s
about showing a sin-cursed world that God has a purpose for us. It also declares the commitment and love that Christ has for Christians.

God doesn’t call everyone to be this kind of example to others. Some people are called to be single and to foster their relationship with Christ without having to juggle all the concerns of an intimate relationship
with another human. Whatever God calls us to do and to be, He does it for our good. He knows what’s
best for each individual. The country we’re born in, who our parents are, the talents and personality we
have, how tall we are, the color of our eyes, and even marriage or singleness—all of it and more is part of
God’s specific plan for us as individuals. And He weaves that plan and countless others together with
unfathomable intricacy.

So, what makes humans think it’s all right to alter God’s design for marriage? God Himself gave it to us
at the very beginning of time, after all. If God took this much care to create such an intricate and
incredible image of a divine relationship, we ought to preserve it.

My upcoming contemporary novel, With Mercy’s Eyes, takes a look at what can happen when we deviate
from God’s prescribed order for marriage. It releases on June 16 th , 2025.

D. T. Powell has loved stories since before she can remember, and it was one of those stories that God used to change her life and prompt her to start writing. In addition to writing book reviews for a magazine as well as original contemporary and speculative fiction, she has actively contributed to the fanfiction community since 2013. Her original work has been published by Writers Digest, Clean Fiction Magazine, Twenty Hills Publishing, The Order of the Pen Press, Wolrdsmyths, and Cadence Writing. She enjoys reading, playing pickleball, and playing an occasional video game. You can find her online as dtill359.

Her favorite verse is Psalm 126:5, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”

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Websites:

https://www.dtpowellwrites.com