God Comes Before Marriage
Deuteronomy 13:6, 8, NKJV
If your brother [or] . . . the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers . . . you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him . . .
Luke 14:26, CEV
You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.
Mutual Love and Respect
Hebrews 13:4, ESV
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Ephesians 5:22 - 25, 28, 31 - 33, TEV
Wives, submit [obey or yield] yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body.
And so wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it . . .
Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself . . .
1Peter 3:3 - 4, 7, GNB
You [married women] should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you fix your hair, or the jewelry you put on, or the dresses you wear. Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight.
In the same way you husbands must live with your wives with the proper understanding that they are more delicate than you. Treat them with respect, because they also will receive, together with you, God's gift of life. Do this so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.
1Corinthians 7:2 - 4, TEV
Every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband. A man should fulfill his duty as a husband, and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other's needs.
A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is.
Marriage Wisdom
Proverbs 12:4, TEV
A good wife is her husband's pride and joy; but a wife who brings shame on her husband is like a cancer in his bones.
Proverbs 21:19, HCSB
Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.
Proverbs 30:21 - 23, NKJV
For three things the earth is perturbed, Yes, for four it cannot bear up: For a servant when he reigns, a fool when he is filled with food, a hateful woman when she is married, and a maidservant who succeeds her mistress.
Separation and Divorce
Matthew 19:3 - 6, 9, HBFV
Then the Pharisees came to Him and tempted Him [Jesus], saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?"
But He answered them, saying, "Have you not read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh'?
"So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate . . . And I say to you, whoever shall divorce his wife, except it be for sexual immorality, and shall marry another, is committing adultery; and the one who marries her who has been divorced is committing adultery."
Malachi 2:14 - 16, TLB
"Why has God abandoned us?" you cry. I’ll tell you why; it is because the Lord has seen your treachery in divorcing your wives who have been faithful to you through the years, the companions you promised to care for and keep.
You were united to your wife by the Lord [in marriage]. In God’s wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in his sight. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. Therefore, guard your passions! Keep faith with the wife of your youth.
For the Lord, the God of Israel, says he hates divorce and cruel men. Therefore, control your passions - let there be no divorcing of your wives.
1Corinthians 7:10 - 16, 39 - 40, TEV
For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband; but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife.
To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her. And if a Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to go on living with her, she must not divorce him.
For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband . . .
However, if the one who is not a believer wishes to leave the Christian partner, let it be so. In such cases the Christian partner, whether husband or wife, is free to act. God has called you to live in peace. How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife? . . .
A married woman is not free as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, then she is free to be married to any man she wishes, but only if he is a Christian. She will be happier, however, if she stays as she is. That is my opinion, and I think that I too have God's Spirit.
Marriage Unto Death
Romans 7:2 - 3, NIV
By law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.