The Purpose of Marriage

Ishmael (Genesis 21).

1. Companionship; Completion.

   "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18).

2. Multiplication of people - to have children.

   "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..." (Genesis 1:27-28).

   "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord" (Genesis 4:1).

   "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" (Psalm 127:3-5).

3. To raise up a godly seed - godly descendants.

   "...She is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth" (Malachi 2:14-15).

4. To subdue and dominate God's creation.

   "...subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28).

5. To be an illustration of Christ and the Church
   • Husband (Christ); Wife (the church)
   • An illustration in relationship, in love, in care, in purity, and in purpose.

God's Instructions To Husbands. Some Dos And Don'ts.

1. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).
2. "A man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Also recorded in Ephesians 5:31.
3. "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing" (Proverbs 18:22).
4. "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun" (Ecclesisastes 9:9). "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as a loving hind and a -pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: and be thou ravished always with her love" (Proverbs 5:18-19).
5. "The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously...Take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously" (Malachi 2:14-16).