In studying about marriage in Ephesians 5:21-33 you notice something surprising. In the middle of specific instructions for wives and husbands Paul injects a verse that at first seems to be out of place, but when you think about it for a while, it fits in a special way.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
Marriage has a special place in the heart of God because it is a human experience that pictures the special, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ that God desires for each of us to have. There is something mysterious about both relationships - two becoming one - but both are deeply satisfying and fulfilling. This is no doubt why God declares that what He has joined together, no one should sever. It’s also why God says He hates divorce. It distorts the picture God wants us to have of the spiritual relationship between a believer and Jesus Christ.
As a lover declares his vows of love and fidelity in a marriage ceremony, so God wants us to declare our vow of love and fidelity to Jesus Christ. The relationship believers have with Jesus Christ is eternal. The relationship a man and woman have in marriage is until death separates them. The commitment to faithfulness and permanence is to be implicit in both.
