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In a run-in with the Pharisees (Matthew 19:3–10), Jesus quoted from the Bible account you'll be exploring this week. "Since they are no longer two but one," He concluded, "let no one separate them, for God has joined them together." God instituted marriage as a symbolic union of a couple's hearts and lives into one. If you're married or planning to be married, are you willing to keep the commitment that makes the two of you one?

Genesis 2:18–25

1. Why do you think God made woman from the man's flesh and bone instead of from the dust of the ground, as he made man (vv. 18–23)?
2. What does this tell you about the seriousness with which God treats this special partnership?
3. Verse 24 presents the basic elements of marriage in compressed form. What is implied by a man leaving his parents?
4. What is involved in a man being joined to his wife?
5. What does the two being united into one refer to?

Ask God to keep you from short-changing His pattern for marriage union either by failing to wait for a publicly recognized relationship or by violating that covenant once you've entered into it.

Genesis 2:18–25

(18)And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." (19)So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one.

(20)He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. (21)So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it. (22)Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam.

(23)"At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken out of a man." (24)This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. (25)Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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Prayer for the Week

Creator God, publicly uniting a man and woman for life was Your plan. Please keep me from short-changing that relationship.

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