Marriage & Family II - 21

The Bible teaches that God ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. The family unit is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption (or connected through guardianship). Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in a lifetime marital covenant. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband and to respect him even as the Church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She is created in the image of God, as is her husband, and is thus equal to him.

Furthermore, from the moment of conception, children are a blessing and a heritage from the Lord to be treasured and raised up according to the principles of Scripture, and parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. (See Ephesians 5:21-32; Ephesians 6:1-4; 1 Peter 3:1-9; Psalm 127:3-4; Deuteronomy 4:9-10; Deuteronomy 6:7.)