The life partner (Part 12)
Today I will mostly talk about the covenant. As I said at the end of the eleventh part, although the family of the girl gives the green light to the boy and there is a party and all cultural and religious ceremonies, one cannot speak about covenant, although the two have said yes and both wear wedding rings.
To understand the true definition of the covenant according to God, let us see the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees in Matthew 19: 3-10.
The Pharisees approached Jesus in order to test him by asking the following question: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”. Jesus' answer was a reminder of what God's Word says. He responded by saying: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”?
For that answer, the Pharisees were happy in believing to trap him. They then asked a simple and logical question, saying“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”. They were surprised when Jesus responded by saying, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning”. In other words, divorce is not in the plan of God and man and woman are supposed to live together until death do them part (Romans 7: 2).
To their surprise, Jesus said that however there is one exception: In verse 9 He said, " I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery ". Jesus' message is clear: Apart sexual infidelity and death, nothing should separate a man from his wife. If sexual infidelity can break the marriage, it is clear that the sexual act is not an act of sheer pleasure as many think. When a man lies with a woman, the bible says that the two become one flesh. Becoming one flesh does not require the presence of a pastor, priest or a cultural ceremony.
In writing to the Corinthians Paul says, " Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (1 Corinthians 6: 16). Who does Paul talks about? It is a man who lies with a prostitute and he confirms that both (the man and the prostitute) become one flesh. If a married woman cheats on her husband with another man, she breaks the first covenant and creates a new one. This is why Jesus said that sexual infidelity can break a covenant. Man and woman do not become one flesh when they say Yes to each other but they become one flesh when they have intercourse. This is why some virgins bleed during the first sexual contact for the blood is the symbol of the covenant. Therefore a virgin girl should jealously guard her virginity because it is of great worth in God’s eyes and for her future.
I'll talk about it in the thirteenth part.
Chris Ndikumana
