In these perilous times, building a strong husband and wife relationship and fulfilling the marriage vow “till death do us part” have become a tough challenge for many couples. Each day, husbands and wives have to battle against problems and temptations that pose threats to their relationship. Hence, they take every measure that they know just to preserve and safeguard not just their marriage but also their whole family. Unfortunately, not all couples succeed.
First of all, we have to understand that husbands and wives, by themselves alone, are not capable of building and maintaining a strong relationship. One way or another, they will be distracted, or worse, they might succumb to the many distractions which Satan is placing before them.
What could really make a marital relationship solid and strong is the teachings of God. We can be sure that if a relationship is founded on God’s teachings, husbands and wives will not be easily shaken even by what others perceive to be insurmountable odds and irresistible temptations. They will remain firm and unmoved, and they will continue to hold on to each other, no matter what, because their marriage is anchored on the teachings of God.
ACTS 14:22 (KJV) says,
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
According to Luke, the Apostle Paul, as well as the other apostles, confirmed or strengthened the souls of the disciples by exhorting them to continue in the faith so that when tribulations come, they would not be easily disheartened. The faith of the disciples became strong because they listened to the exhortation of the preachers of God. Here, we can see the vital role that the preachers of God — like the apostles — play in making people develop a strong faith.
The same thing is true when we talk about having a strong marital relationship or keeping a marriage intact. Husbands and wives likewise need to also listen to a preacher who is truthfully preaching the teachings of God.
1 CORINTHIANS 14:3 (KJV) says,
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
Let me first clarify that in the New Testament, “prophesying” does not refer to the act of foretelling future events. Prophesying, in the New Testament, means to speak for edification, exhortation, and comfort. And this task rests on the shoulders of the preachers of God.
Now, where will the words that edify, exhort, and comfort come from?
ROMANS 15:4 (KJV) says,
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
The words of God — His teachings, His commandments — which are being preached by a preacher of God, are in the Scriptures. The words of God can edify and give comfort, and they could guide couples in making their relationship strong, harmonious, and conflict-free.
However, it does not start and end with solely listening to the teachings of God; God’s teachings have to be obeyed. It is the obedience to God’s commandments that could make husband and wife, and the whole family for that matter, intact and united. That is why it is very important that family members always listen to the words of God — to the gospel.
COLOSSIANS 1:23 (KJV) says,
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, . . .
The gospel could strengthen the relationship between a husband and a wife because it contains admonitions that are aimed at fostering love, care, and respect that couples should give to each other.
For instance, in EPHESIANS 5:28 (KJV) this is what the Apostle Paul said to husbands,
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
In EPHESIANS 5:23 (KJV), it says,
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Husbands are being instructed to head their wives with kindness and consideration.
In EPHESIANS 5:25 (KJV), it says,
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
The gospel is also teaching the husbands to be loving, caring, and considerate to their wives. They need to love their wives the way Christ loves the Church.
But the admonitions are not limited to husbands only. The Gospel, likewise, gives specific instructions to wives.
EPHESIANS 5:22, 24 (KJV) says,
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
The wives are being told to submit themselves to their husbands, and that they should acknowledge the authority that their husbands have over them.
EPHESIANS 5:33 (KJV) says,
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Aside from loving their husbands, the gospel is also teaching the wives to show reverence to their husbands.
The gospel has a complete prescription for husbands and wives on how they could achieve a healthy and strong relationship. If every husband and wife will nurture in their hearts and put into practice all of the teachings of the gospel — which they could hear from the preacher being used by God to be His instrument in edifying souls — without a doubt, they will surely have a solid and lasting relationship despite the dark schemes of Satan.
The teachings of the gospel could strengthen, or edify, not only a husband and wife relationship but also all other relationships like the relationship among friends, among members of the family, among siblings, and even among brethren in the Church.
EPHESIANS 4:16 (KJV) says,
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
What edifies everybody in the Church is love. Above all is the love for God; and then the love for our fellowmen, for our spouses and children, for our brethren, and even for our enemies. Love is both a binding and a strengthening or edifying factor in any relationship.
Any organization, any household, any group within the Church, will be edified if love will prevail. As stated in Ephesians 4:16 (KJV), “. . . maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Love is what should bind people together; love makes all relationships strong and resilient.
COLOSSIANS 3:14 (ASV) says,
and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.
Love is considered the bond of perfection. If everybody in a household —husband, wife, children, siblings, grandparents — will learn the kind of love that the Bible teaches, no problem will be left unresolved, no differences will be left unsettled, and no couples will be cheating on each other. Family members will not fall apart even if tribulations come because they are welded together by love.
If there is one thing that I am truly proud of, it is the solidarity and the love that prevail among the brethren in our organization. It is evident that the brethren in the Church of God are edified by the love that is being taught by the Bible. We continually experience lots of persecutions, defamations, and practically all forms of harassment but we have remained resolute, firm, and undaunted because we have been strengthened by the love being taught by the Bible. Thanks be to God!
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