Marriage and the Sabbath are the twin institutions of Eden, established by God Himself before the Fall and given to mankind in Eternity. Not only did God create and found these two great institutions, He shared with us. Therefore, Every marriage engagement should be carefully considered, for marriage is a step taken for life. Both the man and the woman should carefully consider whether they can cleave to each other through the Change of life as long as they both shall live. AH 340.2
In Genesis 1:28, Adam and Eve are told to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” God created humanity to reproduce sexually, and one of the reasons for marriage is to conceive and raise children. And in Genesis 2:18, God says of Adam, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” So there are at least two more biblical reasons for marriage: (1) reproduction, and (2) companionship.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Gen.2:18,21-24
God celebrated the first marriage. So, marriage is begun by the Creator of the universe. ‘Marriage is honorable’. It was one of the first gifts of God to man. And it is one of the two things that, after the Fall, Adam brought with him out of the gates of Eden. When God’s principles (rules) are followed and obeyed, marriage is a blessing. Marriage guards the purity and happiness of the race. It meets man’s social needs. It raises humankind’s physical, mental, and moral nature. PP.46 & Hebrews 13:4.
The divine love emanating from Christ never destroys human love, but includes it. By it human love is refined and purified, elevated and ennobled. Human love can never bear its precious fruit until it is united with the divine nature and trained to grow heavenward. Jesus wants to see happy marriages & happy firesides. AH 94.3
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. Mark 10:9-12
And he answered and said unto them, 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. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matt.19:4-6
Love is a plant of heavenly origin. It is not unreasonable; it is not blind. It is pure and holy. But the passion of the natural heart is another thing altogether. While pure love will take God into all its plans, and will be in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God, passion will be headstrong, rash, unreasonable, defiant of all restraint, and will make the object of its choice an idol. In all the deportment of one who possesses true love, the grace of God will be shown. Modesty, simplicity, sincerity, morality, and religion will characterize every step toward an alliance in marriage. RH. Sept.25, 1888
And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Gen.1:31
Christ came not to destroy this institution, but to restore it to its original sanctity and elevation. He came to restore the moral image of God in man, and He began His work by sanctioning the marriage relation. Thus He sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as an institution that He Himself had established. He ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock, to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, should be recognized as members of the family above. AH 99.3
Most people in the developed world would have mentioned the companionship purpose, because our culture tends to view marriage solely as a vehicle for securing personal happiness and fulfillment. And yet Jesus mentions neither of those seemingly more obvious rationales for marriage. According to Jesus, the reason for marriage is that God made them male and female.
If we are to protect the rationale for marriage as we protect the rationale for the Sabbath, it means we will have to resist strong cultural forces in the developed world as well as in the developing world.
Protecting the distinctness of the sexes means protecting not only physical and psychological differences but also role differences. God created sex role differences as part of His original design, before the Fall. Adam was created first and was given charge over the Garden of Eden, warned about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and given the task of naming the animals, all before Eve was created. Gen. 2:15-20. Eve was created out of Adam, and as a “helper” suitable to him. Gen. 2:21-23. These created sex role differences are the reason for marriage: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Gen. 2:24. And it was this passage that Jesus quoted when He was asked about marriage.
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on [her] head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 1corinthians 11:1-12