The Infallible Manual for Marriage and Family

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While not exhaustive, the following fairly represents inspired teaching on this subject:

And he answered and said, have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder…. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery (Mat. 19:4–9).

For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband…. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man (Rom. 7:2–3).

Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Heb. 13:4).

But because of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife (1 Cor. 7:2–4).

Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it (Eph. 5:22–24).

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:1–4).

Rebuke not an elder but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brethren: the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity…. But if any widow hath children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety towards their own family, and to requite their parents: for this is acceptable in the sight of God…. But if any provideth not for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:1–8).

[Note: I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton, TX, November 4, 2016.]

Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner, curator, and administrator.