“Give honour to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (NLT) Hebrews 13:4

“But if a man thinks that he’s treating his fiancée improperly and will inevitably give in to his passion, let him marry her as he wishes. It is not a sin. But if he has decided firmly not to marry and there is no urgency and he can control his passion, he does well not to marry” (NLT) 1 Corinthians 7:36-37

Marriage and singleness are gifts from God (1 Corinthians 7:7). To maintain the efficacy of these gifts and hence bring glory to God, the married should remain faithful to their significant other and the singles should stay pure (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:36-37).

The quality of being faithful to one’s partner is fast eroding in most Christian marriages. The easiest part of the marriage is the pomp and pageantry witnessed during the solemnization ceremony. Five years down the line, when the romance has depleted and the kids start trooping in, the divine mandate of faithfulness is crowded out. All the vows exchanged when tying the nuptial knot relapse into oblivion and the parties to the marriage wonder how they got there in the first place.

One of the subtlest forms of marital unfaithfulness is what has been christened “emotional unfaithfulness”. Here, even though the couple stays married, they remain emotionally detached to each other. They live under the same roof, but they hardly talk to each other, touch each other, play with each other. Husbands may lose any sense of admiration for their wives; they treat their wives like the way Jacob treated Leah and treat other women like the way Jacob treated Rachel, waiting to be won over (Genesis 29:30-31). They may not sleep with these women, but they flirt with them, sometimes in front of their wives in social gatherings and make their wives feel unwanted. This spectre is surely a recipe for disaster; it can culminate in all forms of marital depravity. In retaliation, wives can do worse than their husbands.

The divine mandate on which marital faithfulness is nurtured has been well articulated by the inspired writer Paul. In Christian marriage, scripture admonishes couples thus:

“And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord ... For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church” (NLT) Ephesians 5:22; 25

“So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (NLT) Ephesians 5:33

Moral absolutes - Part 2 || More