Does a creationist organization have anything to say about marriage? Should we say anything about marriage? The answer to both questions is “yes.”

In my unregenerate teenage years, I read a famous science fiction book (whose title and author I will not mention, as I do not recommend this book) where the principle characters were involved in a multi-polygamous single marriage comprised of two men and five women (I may have the exact number wrong, but I am not going to buy a new copy of the book to check). As I write this blog, the subject of marriage is very much in the news on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., a well-known Christian businessman has remarked on his support for traditional, biblical marriage, while in the U.K. the British Prime Minister—a Conservative Prime Minister!—has announced his intention to legalize “gay marriage” before the next election in 2015. If the traditional view that marriage is for one man and one woman is replaced by the view that it could be any two people, then on what basis do they wish to discriminate in favor of the number two?

The truth is that the basis for marriage is the way that God created us. Notice what Jesus said, when He was asked about marriage. He did not point them to notorious polygamists of the Old Testament, like David or Solomon—men, who are praised by the Bible on other issues. He took his listeners straight back to the first two chapters of the Bible.

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘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.” (Matthew 19:4–6)

Several entire sermons can be preached on these verses. In this article, I can only pick out a couple of points.

  • Marriage is for two people
  • Correct marriage has been this way “from the beginning”
  • The partners in the marriage are to be “male and female”
  • The marriage has been joined together by God

This might be labeled as the “traditional” view of marriage. “Traditional” is not always synonymous with “biblical.” However, in this case, it is. Apparently, this biblical mandate for marriage is controversial today. Jesus also said:

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22–23)