Cohabitation – a reality check
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Category Archives: Marriage
Why do many people prefer cohabitation?
Why do many people prefer cohabitation to marriage?
Courtesy of Metro News.
You might think: so superficial, so short-sighted, so selfish. I couldn’t possibly comment.…
Gay marriage and the ‘trajectory’ of Scripture
The ‘trajectory’ argument, briefly, is that there are certain practices (such as slavery) that are permitted in Scripture, but it is Scripture itself which sows the seeds of their eventual abolition. Conversely, there are certain practices (such as same-sex relations) that are forbidden in Scripture, but it is Scripture itself which sows the seeds of their acceptance.
The Bishop of Bangor in the Church in Wales, Andy John, has invoked such a trajectory argument in his support of marriage for homosexual couples.…
Civil partnerships
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 provided for the legal recognition of homosexual relationships in the UK. The Act came into force in December 2005. Over the next seven years a total of 60,454 were formed.
In 2018 (the most recent year for which statistics are available at the time of writing) 956 civil partnerships were formed in England and Wales. In the same year, there were 927 civil partnership dissolutions. (Source)
The Act extended all the legal rights and privileges of marriage to homosexual couples. …
Decision-making by husbands and wives
George W. Knight III considers how decision-making might be approached in a complementarian household.
‘The delicate balance that must be maintained is that of the husband’s leadership in a situation in which two equal image bearers of God are involved.
‘The husband must honor his wife 1 Peter 3:7, “grant her honor as a fellow-heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered,” NASB) and respect her views, opinions, feelings, and contributions about the issue at hand, and he must do so in a way that takes into account both his and her strengths and weaknesses (1 Peter 3:8, “husbands … be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner”).…
Marriage as God did not intend it
There are two views of marriage (writes Martin Davie) which are deeply ingrained in modern Western culture but which fall far short of God’s wise purposes.
1. Marriage as a means of self-fulfilment
We live in an age when individual autonomy and authenticity are highly valued.
Jonathan Grant explains:
Because of our culture’s move away from transcendence, or belief in God as the source of reality, we have come to place the full weight of our personal identity on ordinary life—our material, here-and-now existence.…
Guidelines on male headship in marriage
In their book The Meaning of Marriage Tim and Kathy Keller suggest what obeying the pattern of male headship set out in Ephesians 5:21-33 might look like:
The husband’s authority (like the Son’s over us) is never used to please himself but only to serve the interests of his wife. Headship does not mean that the husband simply ‘makes all the decisions,’ nor does it mean he gets his way in every disagreement. Why? Jesus never did anything to please himself (Romans 15:2-3). …
Marriage as God intended
In Glorify God With Your Body Martin Davie outlines what marriage, as divinely ordained, should look like.
I summarise:
- Any form of incestuous marriage is forbidden. That is why many churches has lists of those family members a person may not marry.
- Any form of forced marriage is excluded. Both parties should give their consent (and, by implication be above the minimum age of consent).
- The exclusive nature of marriage rules out either person having more than one spouse or sexual partner.
Sex in Genesis 2:18-25
Summarising this, by Martin Davie.
- Humanity has always been sexually differentiated. The man was always a man, and the woman was a woman from the moment she was formed from his side.
- Men and women can only fulfil their God given vocation together. Even as he carried out his God-given work in the garden (Gen 2:15), it was ‘not good’ for the man to be alone (Gen 2:18).
- Men and women are suitable helpers for one another because they share in an equal humanity.
1 Corinthians 7:14 – Sanctified spouses, holy children
1 Cor 7:14 – ‘The unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.’
What is the meaning of ‘sanctified’ and ‘holy’ in this verse? Several options may be considered:-
1. That it is about the regeneration of the unbelieving partner. According to this view, Paul would be stating that the unbelieving spouse has become regenerate through the believing partner. …