The First Commandment of Marriage

Friendship

The first commandment of marriage is the one that makes it last and last and last. The first commandment of marriage is the one that not only must come before all others but also must stick around when all of the others are struggling. The first commandment in marriage is not only chronologically first but also must be first in priority as well. The first commandment of marriage is the last commandment many believers activate in their walk with the Lord. Friendship with God through Jesus Christ is often shallow and vague. The first commandment in marriage is genuine and deep friendship.

Lust is the intensification of desire. In the Greek text, the term is literally the term for desire with the preposition “upon” added to it. It is “upon desire.” It is desire in the extreme; God has designed that this intensity should be experienced nowhere outside of the marriage bond. This, in part, is what makes marriage “holy” matrimony. God has created holy ground, a sacred place for His children to walk in human relationship. God designed life this way; He desires that our sensual desires be fulfilled there and there alone!

Marriage, however, must never be based upon lust or sensual desire. The deep waters of a lasting relationship run quietly, well below the surface, with feelings of sensual pleasure that shift with mood and circumstance. Romance cannot provide what commitment demands, and because of this, many couples today are struggling to keep their relationship alive. They have not come to grips with marriage as friendship first and foremost.

In our investigation, we shall look at this opening command of the final chapter of the book of Hebrews. The writer here in this concluding chapter has summarized Christian conduct. He has given us the ten commandments of Christian conduct. When two people of the opposite sex operate under these commands and choose to join their lives together within a marriage bond, they shall experience the highest of all earthly relationships. Obedience to God releases the deepest pleasures of marriage. Without obedience to God, the fullness of marital bliss remains unavailable.

In marriage, we gain a friend that sticks closer than a brother. There is the saying that blood is thicker than water, but the fact of life is that Holy Matrimony is thicker than blood or water. A man and woman leave their blood parents and cleave to another. At birth, we separate from our mother physically. In marriage, the separation is extended yet further. As the new relationship develops, a new blood bond is created through the children, and the process begins again.

Our task today will be to investigate what the Scriptures say about friendship. For the Christian, brotherly love is eternal. The friendship created in Holy Matrimony is even more intense than the friendship created at conversion. In the Christian faith, we become part of a family. In marriage, two become one. What does it mean to be a friend?

The First Commandment of Marriage

Friendship

1. The natural friendship

The supernatural friendship

A. Common

B. Common

C. Common

The mathematical miracle friendship

A. The completion of

B. The hardness of

C. The message of

The eternal friendship

A. The

B. The

C. The