What Is Marriage?

One Flesh Union

Marriage is the one flesh union of one man with one woman for one lifetime. On their wedding day a man and a woman—by taking their wedding vows—step inside a morally inviolable circle. Inside that circle, which is a re-creation of the garden of Eden, all barriers fall away between that man and that woman. What makes marriage unique is that it is a total sharing of all that we are, with no boundaries. This is one flesh union. That's marriage.

And the gospel is God's declaration. The gospel is a marriage proposal from the Son of God, offering himself to us—all that he is meeting all of our need. And our response to the gospel is "I do" even as he says "I do" to us. So we give ourselves to him without reserve.

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. is the president of Renewal Ministries and pastor to pastors at Immanuel Church, Nashville. He is also the author of several books, including the Preaching the Word commentaries on Isaiah and Proverbs and Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel. He is also a contributor to the ESV Study Bible. Ray and his wife, Jani, have been married for fifty years.