Why is marriage necessary?
God's own answer to this question is found in Genesis 2:18:“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
Marriage is necessary for:
1. Companionship
First, marriage was ordained to solve the problem of loneliness. Husband and wife ought to have mutual help and comfort for each other both in prosperity and adversity.Companionship, therefore, is the essence of marriage and this is well substantiated in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall,the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him;and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
2. Foundational Institution of all Human Society
Secondly, marriage is a foundational institution of all human society. Society itself in all its forms depends on marriage.The attack on marriage experienced today is actually an attack on society itself(and on God,Who built society on marriage).
Marriage is also the foundation upon which the Church as God's special society rests. The community is weakened as the home or household is weakened. The home in the Scripture is the smallest unit of society. It is a group of persons (husband, wife and children) living under the same roof, under one human head (the husband), and l is a separate decision-making unit. Each one of us is a product of this smallest unit of society.
God designed marriage as the foundational element of all human society. Before there was a church, a school, a business instituted, God formerly instituted marriage. If marriage were of human origin, then human beings would have a right to set it aside.Marriage as an institution is subject to the rules and regulations set down by God. We must therefore study and abide by the Biblical principles for marriage.
3. Procreation
Marriage was ordained for procreation. Children are to be brought up in the knowledge, fear and nurture of the Lord and to the praise of His holy name. While God has ordained that procreation must be carried on as one duty in marriage (“Be fruitful, and multiply”), and only within marriage, procreation is not the fundamental feature of marriage.
Marriage is something more than mating. To reduce marriage to legalized, responsible mating, therefore, is an error with serious implications. The propagation of a race is a sub-purpose of marriage, not the major purpose. But this is strange to us as Africans! Isn't it so?
4. Protection against all forms of Sexual Immoralities
Furthermore, marriage was ordained in order that the natural instincts and affection implanted by God in His creatures should be hallowed and directed aright, that those who are called of God to this holy estate should continue therein in pureness of living. Thus, it is for protection against all forms of sexual immoralities like lusting and fornication; that those who do not have the rare gift of celibacy might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ for,“But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn” (1 Corinthians 7:9). Again,“To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband”(1 Corinthians 7:2). Into this holy estate of marriage, an unmarried male and an unmarried female are joined.