Is Marriage an Ordinance Instituted by Man?

An emphatic “No” is the answer to this vital question. God’s Holy Word makes this fact clear in the account of the creation:

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

As “one flesh”, the relationship between the husband and wife is closer than that of children and parents, for the Lord does not forbid children to leave their parents and marry, but He commanded the husband and wife to cleave to each other. They are a unit. How can they be separated except by destroying one or both of them? Death alone can rightfully separate them.

“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 God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and 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: 27,28).

Marriage is therefore an ordinance instituted by God Himself to make life complete for both man and woman.

In New Testament times, our Lord made no alteration of what constituted true marriage in the ordinance which was instituted by God at the beginning of creation: that a man should cleave to only one wife. Jesus, in answer to the Pharisees who came to question Him on the subject of marriage, said:

“Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

“And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-6).

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour” (I Timothy 3:2).

We need, then, to understand clearly that marriage which is in accordance with God’s divine plan and purpose, is the union of one man with one woman. Marriage performed according to native law and custom is as valid as one performed in a Christian church, or in a court of law before a magistrate. Therefore, there is no reason why people should justify having more than one wife, on any grounds.