Grace and peace, Saints.
A lady wrote me recently asking what she should do regarding choosing a minister to marry her and her longtime boyfriend. Â She wondered whom she should choose to say the nuptials, because she and her boyfriend no longer believe in “man-made religions,” and, for this reason, they had no church and, therefore, no minister to marry them.Â
As I considered this question, it dawned on me that Adam and Eve had no minister to marry them either. Â Now, some would most likely argue that God was their minister, but I would disagree, because, according to the Bible, God uttered not one word to marry the two. Â Eve didn’t say anything either. Â As a matter of fact, the only one who did any talking was Adam:
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
“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.”
Did you see that?  God did not officiate at Adam and Eve’s wedding.  Adam did.  God, then, was the Witness [stomp, stomp, stomp].
And get this: Adam was the one who defined what marriage is and the terms of that marriage: to wit:
- Marriage is to be between a man and a woman. (Because God brought Adam a woman and not a man.)
- The woman and the man become one flesh (that is, they work together in concert, not each one doing his own thing).
- The man is to leave his father and mother (no living under your parents’ roof or in their garage, and the man’s parents are not to meddle in the affairs of the couple.
- The man should cleave–stick like glue–to his wife. Â
Now, how many marriages would have been saved long ago if the couple (and the parents-in-law) would have adhered to these guidelines?
So, Adam married Eve, when he accepted her as “bone of his bone” and “flesh of his flesh.” He made her his other half. Besides making the both of them, God basically just hooked them up. Adam did all the rest. That ought to be preaching to you right about now.
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
The Still Man
We all should obey the law of the land. There is always a Justice of the Peace and whomever works for him, secretary or whatever, can witness the ceremony. Most Judges as well can perform a ceremony. With God left out of the union, it matters little who performs the ceremony.
True, Sandra. My point, however, was that even if God is in the picture, it doesn’t matter who marries the couple, as the next most important ingredient is the couple’s commitment to one another.