Dr. Cecil A. Fayard
Marriage/Family Sermon Series  

INTRODUCTION: Is marriage a contract or a covenant? According to the Word of God, marriage is not a contract. It is a covenant. Many people today are treating their marriages as if they were contracts. Our courts today are not treating marriage as a covenant; they are treating them as contracts.

The difference between a contract and a covenant:

	Contract		Covenant
1.	Is based on distrust		Is based on trust
2.	Establishes liability		Unlimited responsibility
3.	Can be broken by mutual consent of both parties		Cannot be broken without continuing consequences

1. COVENANT DEFINED.
   1. Covenant is the Hebrew word ber-eeth.

   2. Covenant is defined: "in the sense of cutting; a compact made by passing between two pieces of flesh." Literally it means "to cut covenant."
      1. Covenant refers to the formation of a binding agreement by blood.
         
      2. A covenant is a bond in blood.
         
      3. A covenant is a life and death agreement which expresses the ultimate commitment that can be made between two people, between a person and God, and between God and a person.

   3. "Contrary to popular opinion, the marriage relationship is not a contract between two people" (Gothard 7). Marriage is a covenant between two People and God (Malachi 2:14).

      
      

2. COVENANT INITIATOR
   1. Every covenant has a "covenant initiator."
      
      1. The initiator assumes the greater responsibility of carrying out the covenant.
         
         1. In marriage, the covenant initiator is man.
            
         2. A covenant contains binding vows spoken before witnesses and sealed by the shedding of blood.

   2. In the Old Testament the sacrifices used for covenant symbolized the death to self of both parties.

   3. Blood covenants made in the old Testament involved an agreement that if the covenant was ever broken, the judgment required would be the death of the covenant violator.
      
      1. The penalty that comes by braking a covenant is seen in the severe penalty given to those who misuse the Lord's Supper, the symbol of the New Testament covenant.
         
      2. I Corinthians 11:27-30

   
   
3. MARRIAGE IS A BLOOD COVENANT
   1. Marriage is a blood covenant.
      
      1. The wedding ceremony is the making of that covenant.
         
      2. The words, leaving, cleaving, and one flesh are covenant words that can only be understood when we understand the Biblical definition of making a covenant (Genesis 2:24, Ephesians 5:22-31).

   2. Marriage is a blood covenant in that it is established by the passing between the two families denoting the passing between two pieces of flesh (Genesis 15:8-18).

      
      

4. GIVING A TOKEN OF COVENANT
   1. After God made a covenant with Noah, God put a symbol in the sky to remind Himself of His covenant (Genesis 9:12-17).

   2. In the wedding ceremony, the rings are tokens of the marriage covenant.
      
      1. The ring illustrates strength and protection that each partner gives to the other.
         
      2. The circle of the rings relate to the rainbow in the sky as seen from the air.

         
         

5. NEW IDENTITIES
   1. After God made a covenant with Abram, both God and Abraham took new identities (Genesis 17:2-5).
      
      1. Abram became "Abraham"
         
      2. God took the additional title "God of Abraham."

   2. When a person is saved, they are identified with Christ.

   3. After the wedding, both parties take on new identities:
      
      1. The woman is hereafter called by her husband's last name.
         
      2. The man is known as the husband of the woman.

6. ESTABLISHING THE BLOOD COVENANT
   1. Many spiritual reasons are given for the use of blood in covenant.

   2. Blood relates to salvation (Hebrews 9:22).

   3. "Just as there was blood from circumcision, the physical sign of Abraham's covenant with God, so there is blood from the first physical relationship between a wife and her husband. (Gothard)