The Significance of Oneness

Have you ever wondered why couples get married? The real reasons, that is. Some marry for romantic reasons; others marry for practical reasons.

Here are a few of the most popular:

• Legal and financial benefits
• Social and/or family pressure
• Sex
• True Love / Destiny
• To avoid loneliness
• Raise a family

If you’re a person of faith, then you understand that last reason…destiny. Ask any couple who believes in God - or a higher power of any sort - and they will tell you that fate played a role in causing their paths to cross. It’s an integral part of their love story.

In fact, 88 percent of American men and women between the ages of 20 and 29 believe that they have a soul mate waiting for them.

If we believe that God brought us together, then why did he? What did He really have in mind?  Let’s consider the Scriptures:

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  -Genesis 2:24

It may not blow your hair back, but one is the first word God used to describe marriage.

Honestly, when I first read this verse I wasn’t “wowed” by it either.  Oneness? Really? That’s it? It makes me think of old couples that finish each others sentences - cute, but not a huge selling point for me.

This verse sounds nice at weddings, but what does it really mean for people like you and me?

The answer if found in the word "one."  The word “one” in this verse is the same word used in Deuteronomy 6:4 to describe the nature of God.

“Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.”

The word used to describe oneness in a marriage is the same word to describe the oneness in the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Whoa.

Pause for a moment and let that one sink in. It tells us a couple things about the significance of married oneness:

1. Married oneness reflects the nature of God. Previously in the book of Genesis (1:27) we’re told God created mankind in his own image and He created them male and female.” In other words, it takes both a man AND a woman to accurately reflect the image of God in the world. In fact, when a husband and wife invite Christ into their marriage, they become their own little trinity. Three equals one.

2. Married oneness is very, very powerful. Remember the Tower of Babel in Genesis? God confused their language because of how unified, and powerful, they had become. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." (Genesis 11:6)  Now, consider the exponential power of the various types of oneness between a husband and wife - the most intimate of earthly relationships:

• Sexual oneness creates godly offspring

• Spiritual oneness creates powerful prayers

• Conversational oneness creates better decision-making and a unified front

• Recreational oneness creates incredible memories

• Financial oneness creates a brighter, more secure future

You may not think that your marriage reflects the nature of God…but it does.
You may not feel very powerful as a couple…but you are.