Wednesday Wifehood: Partnership or Corporation?

I've been reading a wonderful book called The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down by David Bercot. I love it and he wrote something I found very helpful about marriage:

Today, I see so many Christian books on marriage that talk about the "marriage partnership." But Jesus never referred to marriage as a partnership. He referred to as "one flesh," and that is quite different. In law, when two persons form a partnership, their separate identities still exist. If someone is negligently injured on the partnership property, the injured person can sue each pf the partners individually. The law sees the partnership as two individuals who happen to work together.

However, if two individuals create a corporation, that's different. As far as the law is concerned, when two persons incorporate, their individual identities are dissolved. If someone is injured on corporate property, he cannot normally sue the two persons who formed the corporation. He can sue only the corporation itself. The law sees the corporation as a new person. The corporation can sue or be sued as an entity of its own.

Similarly, marriage is like a corporation, not a partnership. A new entity is formed when a man and woman marry. They aren't partners; they have merged into "one flesh". The world may treat a husband and wife as partners, but Jesus doesn't. Who did Jesus say joins a man and woman together in marriage? God. So in marriage, a man and woman pass into the realm of eternity. I don't mean that marriage is eternal, but there are eternal realities that attach to marriage. Marriage is not a human institution; it's a heavenly institution. It is God who does the joining, but it is man who tried to do the separating.

How amazing! What a difference changing one word from partnership to corporation can make in how we view our marriages. I hope that you are encouraged today to be a corporation, not just a partnership! Do you have a thought or encouragement about Wifehood this week? Share it with us!