What is the Biblical Definition of Marriage?

What is the biblical definition of marriage? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you and our phone lines are open right now. Here's the phone number.

It's 833-THE-CORE. 833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch Adriel live in the studio right now on our YouTube channel and message us that way. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Norm calling in from Denver, Colorado. Norm, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, thanks for having me on the show. So I have an eight year old stepson that spends the summer with his father who claims to be a true believer. But he's also a self-proclaimed prophet of God. And it's often apparent that his father's beliefs conflict with the Christian faith that we profess in our household. My question is, how should we go about raising our son in the biblical Christian faith when he's regularly exposed to what we believe is a divergent version of Christianity in his father's house?

Well, hey, Norm, thank you so much for that question. I realize that you're in a difficult situation. I know as a father myself, we want to guard our children from those influences that are going to lead them away from the Lord. And sometimes there can be so-called Christian influences where the teaching is a little bit off. And I'm here talking about a self-proclaimed prophet and maybe going against things that you find in scripture. I can see ordinarily you just say, well, hey, let's not put him in that situation.

But this is a complex issue because he's spending the summers with his dad. And so I would just say you, for your part, together with your family, you have to focus on using the time that the Lord gives you together to be grounded in the truth. And maybe if there are clear examples of what the false teaching is, well, then addressing that specifically with the Word of God, having conversations with your son, I think is really important.

We need to do a better job as parents, just having those conversations in the home, talking about Jesus, talking about the Lord, digging into the scriptures. The passage that I love to go to in thinking about this is what Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy, two places actually. He says at the very beginning of 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. Well, how did that faith get planted there in Timothy's heart? If you go a little bit further in 2 Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, he says, and I just love this, he says, as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.

Who did he learn it from? His grandmother and his mother, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Friends, we need to grow in our understanding of the word. We want to make our children wise for salvation through the word of God. We need to be acquainted with the scriptures. We want to help our loved ones become more and more acquainted with the scriptures as well. And so what I would say to you, Norm, is with the time that you guys have, make sure that you're investing, and when you see things that are clearly, you know, that maybe that your son has heard, that are clearly contradicting the word of God, well, address those things. You don't have to be combative about it, but you can just go to the scriptures and say, look, here's our ultimate authority for us as believers, and here's why we believe the things that we believe while also encouraging him to grow in charity, in love, in respect for all people, especially for his parents. And so I appreciate your question, brother. May the Lord give you wisdom and guidance and be especially with your stepson as he grows in the knowledge and understanding of Jesus.

Some great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. And Norm, thanks so much for listening to CORE Christianity. We really do appreciate you. Well, believe it or not, this Thursday, June 30th, CORE Christianity will be airing its 1000th episode.

A thousand! And to celebrate, we are offering a special giveaway package. Yeah, you still have a little bit of time to sign up or to participate in this giveaway. We're going to be announcing the winners tomorrow.

There are three winners who are going to receive a gift package that includes our three latest Bible studies on Ruth, the parables of King Jesus, and the Book of Philippians. A brand new coffee mug, which I'm drinking out of right now. It just makes the coffee taste better when you have a nice mug like this. And one Sony Bluetooth headphone.

Well, I mean a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones. So that way you can listen to CORE Christianity all day long. I think we're also going to be sending out some coffee to go with the mug. So please do get involved. Go to corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway to sign up. And I hope that you win and we'll announce the winners tomorrow. So be listening tomorrow if you entered. And if you haven't, do that today. Again, go to corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway.

I'd love to have you be one of our winners. Well, our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, maybe you've got doubts about the Christian faith. Maybe you consider yourself to be an atheist or an agnostic and you maybe want to challenge Adriel on something.

Hey, he's open to your questions as well. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so. 833-843-2673. Let's go to Tim in Escondido, California. Hey, Tim, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Thank you for taking my call. I grew up in a Bible believing evangelical church with Baptist roots. So we were taught that believers in Christ will spend eternity in heaven while those who choose to reject God would suffer eternal torment in the lake of fire created for Satan and the demons. Recently our church changed his statement of faith to allow unbelievers to experience eternal separation from God through annihilation. I'm familiar with the Bible verses describing suffering in the lake of fire. What is the biblical support for the doctrine of annihilation for unbelievers?

Hey, Tim, thank you for this question. You know, this actually doctrine, the doctrine of annihilationism, has been gaining steam, I think especially as the doctrine of hell has come under criticism in recent days. In the ancient church there were some people who held to an idea similar to annihilationism, but it was not the position, has not been the position of the universal Christian church throughout her history. In other words, historically the church has always embraced this idea of hell being a place of conscious torment. Now different people are going to receive different severities of judgment, I believe, and I think you get that from the gospels. But with regard to where people get this idea of annihilationism, when you look at the text of scripture that talk about torment, I think typically they would just say, well, those passages are speaking metaphorically. I mean, we're not meant to take those texts literally per se, and the idea of eternal judgment or eternal destruction could also just be a reference to non-existence, to death in the sense of, you know, ceasing to exist, no longer being conscious of anything. And so there have been arguments that have been made.

I'm not necessarily compelled by those arguments. I think that so often in scripture, I mean, even though when we look at the passages in the gospels or even in the epistles and we could say, well, it seems like Jesus is using some hyperbolic language here or metaphorical language, I think he's still communicating something very seriously to us. And it does seem like he's communicating that hell is this place of conscious torment.

It's not just sleeping or ceasing to exist. It is this place of judgment. And so, look, a lot of people, I think, have a real hard time with the doctrine of hell, and in part the reason is because we minimize the doctrine of God and of his holiness and the offense that sin is against a holy God. And so part of the issue here, I think, is recovering a right understanding of who God is in scripture, of his holiness.

And so I think that that's key in this, but let me just add one other thing. Here at Core Christianity, we're often talking about the core doctrines of the Christian faith. Even though I disagree with this perspective, I don't think that Christians who hold this view are somehow outside of the bounds of the Christian faith in terms of, well, they can't be considered Christians, that kind of a thing, like they're rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of the deity of Christ. I do think that this is a view that isn't in line with what the scriptures teach, but again, there are genuine believers who differ on these issues, and so I think that we have to dig into the word of God. I think we can get wisdom from the history of the church as well, and like I said, historically, the universal Christian church has really rejected this idea of annihilationism. And so I think we need to let the scriptures speak for themselves, and it seems to me like in the gospels and in the epistles, the passages that describe hell or the place of judgment do speak of a place of conscious torment away from the presence of the Lord. Thank you for your question.

I just know I don't want to go there, Adriel. Yeah, well, I mean, Bill, yeah, and throughout the scriptures, we have this call, I mean, I think of what the apostles themselves said, that Christ is going to judge the world. We're going to stand before the Lord, and that's a sobering reality. The good news is we have Jesus. I mean, this is what makes, in part, the gospel so precious is that Christ has borne for us the judgment that we deserved so that we can stand in the presence of a holy God, justified, having had our sins forgiven. It magnifies the mercy of the Lord, and so that's what we flee to. We flee to the gospel, and we rest in what Christ has done for us.

That's a beautiful description. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We are still taking your calls if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, or maybe how your Christian walk intersects with today's culture and all the things that are going on in today's world. We'd love to hear from you. Here's the number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, you can also email us your question.

Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. Adriel got an interesting email from one of our listeners named Cheryl, and it actually has to do with your role as a pastor. She says, Do you prefer topical preaching or expository preaching? I prefer tropical preaching, like on the beach with the dolphins behind you. This is actually a really good question.

There have been debates about this. You shouldn't preach topical sermons, or you need to take a break from expository preaching. Maybe just defining these things would be helpful. Topical preaching, you imagine the church or your pastor says, Hey, we're going to do a series throughout the year on topics that we think are relevant. It could be related to giving. It could be related to things happening in society.

It could be related to marriage. How many marriage series have been preached in churches? Whereas expository preaching is really going to be more focused on expositing, drawing out the meaning of a text of scripture or passages of scripture, usually preaching through books of the Bible. And just speaking personally as a minister of the gospel, I preach through books of the Bible. Right now we're preaching through the book of Revelation. Earlier we were preaching through the book of Genesis.

I enjoy starting in chapter one and going through the book. But I also enjoy taking a break from that at times and doing more topical preaching, especially if a need arises in the church or there are questions, really pressing questions that we need to address, I think, as pastors. And so I prefer expository preaching, and that's just the sort of steady diet that I give to the people in my church, opening up the scriptures. The great thing about this is it keeps you honest as a pastor.

You can just focus on your hobby horses, if you will. You're going through the texts of scripture and letting God speak to his people. And that's ultimately what all preaching should be, is fixing our eyes on Jesus and letting God speak through his word. But it is helpful, I think, at times to pick topics and focus on them. Maybe during Christmas time, for example, focusing on the incarnation of our Lord Jesus and the significance of that. There are different ways to approach this. But I think having a little bit of both and can be helpful, but I would say a steadier diet, a heavier emphasis on expository preaching.

And if you can do it in a tropical place, then more power to you. So praise God. Well said. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we do take voicemails 24 hours a day. You can leave us a voicemail. And here's one from one of our listeners named Bill. Hi, Adriel and Bill. I'm a long time listener, and I really appreciate how you consistently apply gospel wisdom to the specific questions and circumstances people face.

Praise God for how he uses your ministry to bless his people. This is my question. What does the Bible constitute as a marriage between a man and a woman, whether civil or biblical? Or in other words, from the point of view of the Bible, what makes a marriage a marriage? Yeah, a super important question in our day and age, and especially with... I mean, you just think of how marriage is viewed by so many people in society today.

We've minimized this as well. We don't have a high view of marriage as this institution, really given to us by God himself as a gift at the very beginning of creation. I mean, we read about the first marriage between Adam and Eve. I'm thinking of Genesis chapter 2, verse 21. So the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while Adam slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord had taken from the man he made into a woman, and brought her to the man. And the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, the man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. And it's that last section there in verses 24 and 25 of Genesis 2 that I think get to the heart of your question. Marriage is something that God does in joining people together. This is why Jesus says in the Gospels, what God has joined together, let not man separate. And so the focus is on the action of God.

You have the creation of a new family, the idea of leaving in cleaving, leaving his father and mother's house and clinging to his wife, cleaving to his wife, a new family. You have that oneness, which the Apostle Paul in places like the book of Ephesians highlights as emphasizing the care and concern that we should have for each other within marriage. And ultimately there in the book of Ephesians as well, Paul emphasizes that marriage is a picture of the relationship that Jesus Christ has with his church. And so there's this really, I mean, in marriage and in Christian marriage in particular, there's supposed to be this glorious picture of gospel love. I mean, what a high calling it is for us as believers. And so I think that's where we need to focus. Now, often throughout history and even in the Bible, marriage was more than just sort of two people saying, hey, yeah, let's do this.

I mean, it's got teeth to it. It's this covenanting, if you will, where society, the family, oftentimes civil government was also involved. And of course, Paul in Romans chapter 13 talks about the fact that we as Christians are a part of these societies as well. We're called to pursue the good of the societies that God has us in. And so we participate in these things.

Of course, the state doesn't get to define what marriage is. It's what God does in his word. And again, he gives us the perfect picture of what that should look like through the relationship of Christ and his bride. And so I think that needs to be our focus while not just abandoning the other things related to the civil regulations.

I think there are good things for us there. But certainly, you know, this has looked different for different societies throughout history and the church in different places. But I think for us, it's getting married as believers and, of course, to believers. This is something that the Apostle Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians. Two other believers in the Lord, he says, and honoring the Lord in our relationships, caring for one another. And it being this covenant between two people before society, before the world, demonstrating true love, the love that God gives to us. And so I appreciate your question.

Again, it's such an important question. May the Lord bless you. And thanks for reaching out. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Naysa calling in from San Diego. Naysa, what's your question?

Hi. So I have a question that's a two-part question about salvation for women specifically. So one question is in Luke 8, 43 through 48, when the hemorrhaging woman was saved from bleeding, was she saved from bleeding or did she actually gain salvation by reaching for Jesus' robe? And then also in 1 Timothy 2 through 15, are women just saved through childbearing or is there more to it? All right.

Okay. Let me answer the 1 Timothy one really quickly. So right there, you know, Paul writing to Timothy talks about women being saved through childbearing.

And there's been a lot of debate about what exactly that means. Here's a principle for Bible interpretation that is very, very important. And this is one of the things we want to help you to do here at the Core is rightly interpret the scriptures.

And there are some guidelines that I think can be helpful. And one of them is we let the clearer passages of scripture interpret the less clear passages of scripture. This is key because you're going to come across passages in the Bible where you think, okay, boy, I don't know what this is talking about. But there are a lot of other passages that are really clear on the issue that are helpful. And so we want to let the clear texts of scripture guide us in understanding the ones that maybe are a little bit less clear. And certainly the idea that women are saved in a different way than men are, right? Maybe, you know, you're a guy, you're saved by salvation, you're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, but if you're a woman, you're saved through having children.

Well, no. I mean, Paul, the one who taught justification by faith alone is the same one who wrote 1 Timothy. And so the question is, what exactly is he talking about there in 1 Timothy 2 verse 15 when he talks about the woman being saved through childbearing?

Well, one, note the context. In 1 Timothy, one of the issues was there were a group of false teachers who were actually forbidding marriage and minimizing the gift of the family. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, Paul says, the spirit expressly says that in the later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving. In other words, there were a group of people, apostates, Paul says, you know, the spirit says they're going to show up and they're going to abandon the truth, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons. And I think this is in part what Paul is trying to guard the church against.

And so the context there is very important. Some people also say, well, this could be a reference to not just generally women having children, but the seed of the woman. You think back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 where we're told that the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent.

In other words, not just general childbearing, but a very specific birth prophesied way back in Genesis chapter 3. And I actually think that there's some value to that interpretation. But again, we want to let the clear passages of scripture interpret the less clear passages. Now with regard to the woman who had an issue of blood in the gospels in Luke chapter 8, but then also, you know, parallel passage in Mark chapter 6, I think it's really important, excuse me, Mark chapter 5. I think it's really important to hear what Jesus says to her. I'm looking at Mark chapter 5 in verse 34. He says, daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease. Now, I think that this is more than just Jesus curing her disease. I think he's welcoming her as his daughter, as a child of the true and the living God. And by the way, this story is my favorite picture of faith in the gospels because here you have a woman who's at the end of a rope. She's suffering immensely.

I mean, she's had this physical issue that nobody has been able to help her with. And because of this issue, she is technically unclean, ceremonially unclean. So not considered a part of the worshiping people of God, at least not able to be in any significant way or in the way that she would have liked to have been because of her condition. And so she's at the end of her rope and she sees Jesus in the crowd and she thinks, if I just lay hold of his garment, I'll be made well. And so she sort of makes her way through the crowd and she lays hold of Jesus's robe and she's healed and Jesus stops everyone and says, who touched me? And of course his disciples are saying, well, what do you mean who touched you?

We've got all these people here. And Jesus goes to her and looks at her and says, daughter, your faith has made you well. You know what faith is? Faith is an unclean hand that grips the righteous robes of Jesus Christ.

That's what we do. We lay hold of Jesus by faith and experience the same cleansing she did. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.