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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 6; Genesis 2; Ezekiel 23; Psalm 74.
1 Corinthians 6:15-20
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Martin Luther made famous the phrase, “This is most certainly true.” I love that! So I like to make the point that if something is in the Bible once it’s true. If it’s in there twice, it’s certainly true. And if it’s in the Bible three times, it is most certainly true. Well, what are we going to do with this one? The phrase “the two will become one flesh” appears not just once (Genesis 2:24), but in Matthew 19 where Jesus speaks of the sacred nature of marriage, again in Ephesians 5 where Paul speaks of the relationship between husband and wife, and a fourth time here in his letter to the church in Corinth. This is a most, certainly certain truth!
When a man and a woman leave parents, hold fast to one another, and join in the act of marriage, they become one flesh. That applies obviously to the physical union of the two. It applies also to the happy result of that physical union in the birth of children.
The reason and need for marriage is found in Genesis 2:18, where we read, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’”
I like to joke about the truth that it is not good for the man to be alone. Whenever Diane used to travel for her work with PLI, I would enjoy the first 1-½ days on my own. I might make it to two. But then it was not good for the man to be alone! It wasn’t a matter of cooking and cleaning the dishes. I can do all that pretty well. But without companionship I’m just not good.
God made man purposefully needy. In that pre-fall state it was still not good that man should be without companionship. So God created woman. These two fulfill a need in each other by God’s design. And, according to the Bible, they also are an object lesson about the love Christ has for the church.
For that reason we must remain true to our marriage vows, for our love and faithfulness to one another are to be a reflection of Christ’s love for the church. We may muck that up from time to time – thank God for his forgiveness and grace! But marriage is a big deal. And if you’re not married or no longer married you can still honor God through your life of sexual purity and support of those who are married. This is most certainly true.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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