“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? . . . What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4–6).

The Lord Jesus has settled forever (for those who believe His words) the question of human origins and the historicity of the Genesis account of creation. God created Adam and Eve as full-grown adults in the beginning, united as husband and wife-not a population of primates slowly evolving into people over millions of years. The multitude of skeptical scientists and liberal theologians who have insisted that the “two” accounts of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis contradict each other here stand sharply rebuked by the Creator, Himself, for Christ quoted specifically from both Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, thus accepting both of them as valid, historical, and complementary accounts of the same event.

Furthermore, He who is the heavenly Bridegroom confirmed the Genesis teaching that the first and most basic of all human institutions was the home, and that marriage was designed by its Creator to be monogamous and permanent.

Although modern evangelicals may have differing opinions concerning acceptable criteria for divorce and remarriage, it is obvious that “from the beginning it was not so.” The ideal marriage is even used by Paul as a picture of the loving, permanent union of Christ and His Church (Ephesians 5:25–27). God, in His grace, does forgive sin when it is confessed and forsaken-even sin against the marriage covenant-but this does not eliminate the accompanying suffering and heartbreak. How much better to follow God’s creative purpose in all things, especially concerning marriage and the home. HMM