What does the Bible say about marriage. Do I really need to get married? Or it’s a sin to stay single
Before we answer whether marriage is necessary, we need to define what marriage is and trace it to its origin, which is as old as mankind.
The Origin of Marriage
Marriage began on the day man was created. We read in Gen 1:26-28 KJV:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Gen 5:2 KJV confirms this: “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
Scripture tells us that God created all the spirits of men in one day Num 16:22, 27:16 KJV. Yet in Gen 2:7 KJV, God formed one man from the dust of the earth and clothed his spirit “with skin and flesh” and “fenced with bones and sinews” Job 10:11 KJV. Man ‘s spirit in a body is what a soul is, an existence, but when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man became a living soul—God dwelling in the spirit of man in a body. Of all the spirits created, God placed one in one body.[him]
Marriage Is for Companionship
This man was alone, and God observed that “it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” Gen 2:18 KJV. Right here we see the necessity of marriage: it was for human companionship. God brought all the animals to Adam, and he named them, but none were a suitable companion for him Gen 2:19-20 KJV.
When man prefers an animal over another human being for companionship, we see a perversion of God’s design.
Marriage Is for Procreation
On the day God created the spirits of all men, male and female, He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion” Gen 1:28 KJV.
God intended man to be fruitful—bringing forth offspring like himself; to multiply—increase in number; and to replenish the earth. God knew man would one day sin and die, so reproduction was necessary for the increase and survival of the human race.
When God created the lone man, he was a human seed containing all mankind within him. But a seed needs ground to be planted in to grow and multiply. So God took a rib and flesh from the man and made a woman Gen 2:21-22 KJV. She was another human being with a womb—a ground for man to be planted in. Males are seeds, and females are the ground.
Marriage Is for the Replenishment of the Earth
For what purpose did man need to reproduce? Because God created him to replenish the earth. “Replenish” means to fill again, which implies the earth had once been filled but was later destroyed.
Before man was created, we see two opposing spirits present: the Spirit of God and Satan. Satan is personified as “the darkness… upon the face of the deep,” while God is the “Spirit of God” that “moved upon the face of the waters” Gen 1:2 KJV.
At creation, God never said “let there be the earth or water,” because they already existed. He said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so” Gen 1:9-10 KJV.
Marriage if for sexual indulgence and pleasure
1 Cor 7: 2 “To avoid fornication (having consensual sex away from commitment of marriage) let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Though God wants us to share, but not with our wives or husbands. Each man has to have a dedicated woman for himself, called a wife, and every woman should have a dedicated man to herself, called a husband. Noah took with him into the ark, “of every clean beast …by sevens .. the male and his female: and beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.” Even animals were instructed through Noah, for each male to have his female Gen 7:2. One seed to one ground, God instructed “thou shall not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thous shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed. Lev 19:19.
Having one’s wife or husband, is more than just living together, intimacy is the cardinal reason for marriage, without it, there is no procreation, or pleasure for the spouses. Paul warned “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.” 1 Cor 7:3. The married admonished not to defraud each other “except it be by consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer” 1 or 7:5. Any spouse who refuses with intimacy with their spouse, have divorced him or her, by so doing.
Ezekiel describes Satan’s original state:
“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God… Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth… Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee… therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God… I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee” Ezek 28:12-18 KJV.
Satan once ruled the earth until he sinned and was cast out. Many angels rebelled with him, “which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,” and are reserved “in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” Jude 1:6 KJV.
God created man for His own pleasure and to replenish the earth after Satan’s rebellion Rev 4:11 KJV. Marriage is God’s institution to repopulate the earth. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2 Pet 3:9 KJV. Those who believe His promise and receive the gift of life—the Holy Spirit—are chosen to be with Him and to rule with Him forever, replacing the fallen angels Rev 3:21 KJV.
Why the Attack on Marriage
It takes marriage to procreate mankind. That is why the devil has worked to wreck marriages, promote anti-marriage attitudes, and encourage sexual perversions such as homosexuality. His goal is to deny God a pool of people from whom, by their choices, many will be chosen to be His children forever.
Yet God’s standard remains: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” Heb 13:4 KJV.
Is it a sin to stay single?
The answer is dependent on the motive that makes you want to be single. Paul said an unmarried person “careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” 1 Cor 7:34. Paul gives permission saying ” I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.” 1Cor 7:8-9
Conclusion
Marriage is necessary in God’s plan. It was instituted at creation for companionship, procreation, and the replenishment of the earth. While singleness has its place for those called to it 1 Cor 7:7-8 KJV, marriage remains God’s ordained means for filling the earth with those who will choose Him and reign with Him eternally.
Marriage preserves God’s will, reflecting the likeness of God and man, and provides the ground where mankind learns to coexist in love and faithfulness. To God, mankind only exists when the spirit of man dwells in the body; and the body dies when the spirit leaves it. A man truly lives when God’s Spirit dwells in his spirit, whether he is present in or absent from the body.
Ultimately, any spirit of man, without the Spirit of God shall perish—ceasing to be, by being cast into the lake of fire. Hence God says “Verily, verily I (God is talking) say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. On the day of Pentecost,Acts 2:4, the apostles were born into the kingdom of God: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” Amen.