Ephesians 5:31

“For this cause shall. man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh”

“For this cause”: Quotation from Genesis 2:24. “The edict of God from the beginning has been that. man will ‘leave' his parents, making. break from his childhood home to establish. new one. Although the bond between. son and his parents is strong (Exodus 2:12), the institution of marriage is stronger. The man will then be united (to glue together) to his wife” (Boles p. 319). Thus the order established at Creation still stands. Culture and time does not change God's view of the marriage relationship (Matthew 19:4). “Leave”: “Not only must those being married recognize these truths, but parents must understand them as well. Parents must not imperil the marriages of their children by coming between husbands and wives. They must allow their children to leave and cleave. They must never call for. division of loyalty in the heart or actions of their children” (Caldwell pp. 281-282). “Cleave”: To glue to (Matthew 19:5). “There is no use ‘leaving' unless we're willing to spend. lifetime ‘cleaving'. No one should be closer to you than your marriage partner. It is. committed love, one that has decided to remain faithful” (Spiritual Sword Lectureship p. 208). “And the two”: The marriage relationship is rooted in the fact that God created the human race with two genders, men and women, males and females (Matthew 19:4). “For this purpose God created the two sexes. It was for the sake of marriage not for harlotry and fornication (1 Corinthians 6:16)” (Lenski p. 642). Thus. homosexual joining can never be called. "marriage". “One flesh”: “A single body” (NEB). “Man and wife become ‘one flesh' in sexual union (1 Corinthians 6:16), in total self-disclosure, self-giving and self-commitment. The intimacy of ‘one flesh', however, goes far beyond the physical union, encompassing the blending together of every facet of the two lives. The sharing of bodies is accompanied by the sharing of minds, spirits, hopes, needs, aspirations” (Boles p. 319).

“Marriage is not simply an agreement to go steady in bed. The blending of two lives makes adultery unnecessary and unthinkable. The two are at peace with one another and satisfied completely in the total surrender of each other's bodies and lives to the other” (Caldwell p. 282). “Yet God intends sexual intercourse not only to be. union of bodies, but to symbolize and express. union of personalities” (Stott p. 230). Thus we realize that physical intimacy outside of marriage is bound to be. cheap counterfeit. We must warn our young people that what the world offers is only. cheap substitute for the real thing. God is not against pleasure, but He offers pleasure with rich meaning. God intended that the physical intimacy between. husband and wife was to be the result or the celebration of the mental, emotional and spiritual oneness that they already share.