The Mission of Marriage
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”—Genesis 1:28
Valentine’s Day is coming next week. For some, this is not a day of love, but of resentment, loneliness, or cynicism.
It is hard to accept this in a world that has romanticized love and made it all about finding the right one. We have turned marriage into this starry-eyed experience with your beloved while the world swirls around you with music and light.
But that is not how God viewed love. He intended marriage to be a mission.
To fill and multiply more image bearers
To subdue and govern the creation
And to rule as His representatives over all living things
This is the work of marriage. It is outward-focused, others-centered, not merely two lovers gazing at each other.
To be sure, a married couple can delight in one another. Adam’s poetry in Gen. 2:23 and the Song of Solomon certainly attest to the joy of married love.
However, if we stop there, we have failed to see what God intended for marriage: to be a picture of the perfect and beautiful love of the Bridegroom for his bride, the Church.
Whether married or single, all who believe are caught up in this divine Romance. What God commanded Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 is presented in a new way in Matthew 28:18-20: go therefore and make disciples.
When He came the first time, Jesus created and inaugurated a new Kingdom. Together with Christ our bridegroom, we, the church, His bride, are invited to join with Him to make disciples—to fill that Kingdom with more children of God.
This is something you can do if you are single, as you devote your life to growing in holiness in body and spirit and tending to the things of the Lord who is your husband (1 Cor. 7:32-35).
This gives new purpose to married couples who seek to steward the opportunity which the Lord has given you and together, extend His domain from your home outward.
This makes parenting even more significant as we realize that as we raise children for His kingdom, we are fulfilling His order to not merely be fruitful and multiply but to make disciples for His kingdom.
When God envisioned love, He did not see it merely as two people in love looking at each other. It is two people joined together by the love of God, looking together to their Lord. Then in the context of their relationship, they seek to make tangible the spiritual reality they enjoy:
By investing in the people who share the same roof.
By creating a home that welcomes those who are lonely.
By nurturing children and investing in their souls for eternity.
By sacrificially giving up what I prefer to bless another.
By walking with others and pointing them to Jesus, the satisfier of their souls.
And when we love one another for the sake of Christ, the impact is far greater than we realize. Not only will we find satisfaction in serving our Savior and blessing others, our love becomes a testimony to a watching world that craves and longs for what we have (John 13:35).
When Christ is our bridegroom, we are freed from trying to grasp, manipulate, or control the love of others. There is security and safety.
Those who enjoy earthly marriage can give generously and freely to their spouse, their children. Instead of finding their identity in each other, they are freed to love generously, giving His love away to those who need it.
Even if you are single in this season of your life, you are married to Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The apostle Paul was single and he labored with his savior to bring forth children for Him, presenting them to Him complete in Christ (Col. 1:28, 20).
This is the mission of marriage: to reflect the beauty of Christ by resting in Him and then serving with Him. How might this impact how you live today?
