5. What does God’s ideal marriage look like?

The Scripture is determinative: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife” (Genesis 2:24). The bond and interdependence of the married couple supersedes all other earthly relationships. God intended for the couple to depend most deeply on the affirmation and reassurance that they receive from each other. Both should preserve the sanctity of the family circle, and not confide the faults of their spouse to any outside party. *JTL14 4.1

God ordained marriage to be a lifelong monogamous heterosexual union. It is to represent God’s faithfulness to His people. A couple’s unity involves not only physical fusion but also emotional and spiritual union. Christian couples understand that in marrying, they have covenanted to be faithful to each other for as long as they both live.JTL14 4.2

*An exception to this principle might apply to a professional counselor in certain circumstances, such as abuse, mental illness or other dysfunction in the marriage or family.JTL14 4.3