09/10/2026
CONCLUSION
Restoration: Back to God's Plan from the Beginning
When the Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce, He did not take them to Moses, He took them back to Genesis. He said, "From the beginning it was not so." What had happened was that the hardness of men's hearts and the culture of the Ancient Near East had distorted God's original design for marriage. Moses had to regulate what man had corrupted, but Jesus came to restore what God had intended. He did not just improve marriage; He brought it back to creation and then lifted it higher to become a picture of Christ and the Church.
The first restoration was equality. Before Christ, a woman was often seen as lesser, not counted, not heard. Jesus restored Genesis 1:27 that both male and female are made in the full image of God. Paul would later write in Galatians 3:28 that there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ, and Peter calls husband and wife "heirs together of the grace of life" - 1 Peter 3:7. From that equality flows oneness. Marriage was no longer owner and property, but two becoming one flesh as stated in Genesis 2:24 and confirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
From equality, Jesus restored God's pattern for monogamy and permanence. In the Old Testament, polygamy and concubines were tolerated because of culture. Jesus returned to the beginning: two shall become one, not three or four. That is why the New Testament insists on the "husband of one wife" in 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6 and 1 Corinthians 7:2. And because it is one flesh, it cannot be torn easily. Before, a man could divorce his wife for even spoiling a dish. Jesus said that was never God's will. He made marriage a covenant again, not a contract. Matthew 19:6-9 teaches permanence, Malachi 2:16 says God hates divorce, and 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 calls couples to reconciliation over separation.
The third restoration was in attitude. Before, submission was forced and one-sided. The New Testament redefines it in Ephesians 5:21 as "submitting to one another in the fear of God." It is mutual submission in reverence to Christ, not fear of a master. This is immediately followed by Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church." Love became the duty of the husband, respect the response of the wife.
With that love, leadership itself was restored. Before, the husband ruled as a master. Jesus, who washed the feet of His disciples in John 13:14-15, showed that headship in Ephesians 5:23 is not domination but sacrificial service. The husband is head as Christ is head - to die for her, to sanctify her, to wash her with the Word as in Ephesians 5:25-28. That is why Paul adds in Colossians 3:19, "Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them."
That sacrificial leadership created equality even in the most private area of marriage. Before, the wife's body was seen as belonging to the husband alone. The New Testament in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 declares a revolution: "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does." Neither should deprive the other. Hebrews 13:4 then calls the marriage bed honorable, removing shame and selfishness.
Jesus also restored the dignity and public voice of women. Before, women could not speak in public, could not be discipled, could not be witnesses. Jesus broke all that. Mary sat at His feet like a rabbinic disciple in Luke 10:39. He spoke publicly to the Samaritan woman in John 4:27 when rabbis would not. And at the resurrection, women were made the first witnesses and evangelists in Luke 24:9-10, even though a woman's testimony was not accepted in court. Joel's prophecy fulfilled in Acts 2:17-18 says "your daughters shall prophesy," and we see Priscilla teaching Apollos in Acts 18:26.
From public dignity comes spiritual partnership. Before, women were exempt from spiritual duties and prayers. In the New Testament, husband and wife become a prayer team. Peter warns in 1 Peter 3:7 that if a husband dishonors his wife, his prayers will be hindered. Jesus says in Matthew 18:19 that if two agree, it shall be done. We see this partnership lived out by Aquila and Priscilla who served together in Acts 18:26 and Romans 16:3, a couple Paul calls "my fellow workers in Christ Jesus."
Finally, Jesus gave marriage a new and higher purpose. Before, it was mainly for lineage, property and survival. The
New Testament reveals that marriage from the beginning was a mystery pointing to something greater. Ephesians 5:31-32 says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Every Christian marriage is meant to preach the Gospel — the Groom who dies for His Bride, and the Bride who submits to and loves her Groom. It points to the final marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7.
Therefore, Jesus did not lower the standard of marriage; He lifted it back up. In Genesis it was companionship. Under Moses it became regulation because of hardness of heart. In Christ it becomes covenant again. It moves from hierarchy to equality, from polygamy to monogamy, from easy divorce to permanence, from domination to sacrificial love. And so the rule stands forever: What God has joined together, let not man put asunder — Mark 10:9.
