Transformed Mind

When looking at marriage in the New Testament there are not many examples per se of the actual marriage covenant between two people, but the synoptic authors did have much to say on the institution and clarified much on what was to be expected in the bond that unites two people.             Although Jesus was not married, at least not in the sense that we may visualize today, for he was and is married to the church which is made up of the whole of Christian believers, he made certain that the institution as we may define it today was to be crowned in permanence, faithfulness, and unity.   In quoting Genesis Jesus stated that, “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.   What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” [1]   Obviously Jesus thought marriage to be a permanent institution that should not be dissolved by such things as divorce, a

Quote from a psychiatrist named Dr. James Fischer, made after 50 years of mental health experience. It was excerpted from A Few buttons Missing  (1951, p. 273): "If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever  written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on  the subject of mental hygiene; and if you were to combine them and  refine them and cleave out the excess verbiage; and if you were to  take the whole of the meat and none of the bones; and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely  expressed by the most capable of living poets; you would have an  awkward and incomplete summation of the teachings of Christ,  particularly the Sermon On The Mount; and it would suffer immeasurably  in comparison."

The Old Testament, containing 39 books, paints an amazing account of creation and for purposes of this discussion shows the relationship of the Israelites to God the creator in terms of covenants.  Throughout the pages, marriage is seen as a permanent relationship, paralleling the relationship God has to his peoples.  “As the history of Israel develops, a new dimension is added to covenant in the prophetic literature, and a new relationship established.  The covenant is still one of fidelity (to God), but it is expressed now in the terms of marriage.” [1]   In times past a covenant was made to show fidelity to one another.  For example, God made a covenant with Noah, that He would not destroy humanity again as he did in the great flood narrative.  A rainbow was a reminder of this covenant and shows God’s love and compassion for humanity.  Just as God created covenants with his people, so did individuals create covenants with each other when entering into marriage; showing the per