This kind of math would keep anyone in the first grade, but this is correct biblical math regarding the marriage relationship.
Genesis 2:24 speaks plainly to this issue: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall clave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Yes, 1 + 1 does equal 1 regarding God’s Plan for marriage.
This biblical formula does not preclude the male and female lose their personal identity, character and individuality after exchanging their marriage vows and saying, “I do.” But truly a new relationship within the marriage relationship is born.
This was a pronouncement – an authoritative announcement. Whose plan is marriage? Who has the right to set the guidelines? The answer to both questions is God.
Note the phrase one flesh. There is no other one-flesh relationship mentioned in Scripture. This one flesh relationship is unique between a man and a woman the instant they are pronounced husband (male) and wife (female). This is ordained of God not by the religious or civil official performing the wedding ceremony.
I liken this as a miracle second only to our salvation experience. II Corinthians 5:17 reads: “Therefore if any man (generic) be in Christ, he is a new creature (Greek: original formation): old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
In Christ we become new creatures; in a God-ordained marriage between one male and one female they become one flesh.
Next time: The Creation of the Man and the Woman
