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Then the LORD God said, "It is not good
that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his
partner." So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal
of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man
to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every
living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle,
and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but
for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he
took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib
that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and
brought her to the man. Then the man said,
"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken."
Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Genesis 2:18-24
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one's house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Song of Songs 8:6-7
Be subject to one another out of reverence for
Christ.
Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are
to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ
is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just
as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in
everything, to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by
cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present
the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or
anything of the kind — yes, so that she may be holy and without
blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one
ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it,
just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his
body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."
This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the
church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a
wife should respect her husband.
Ephesians 5:21-33
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the
Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him
and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in
thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the
earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his
pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of
angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and
if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I
gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its
own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they
will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we
prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will
come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put
an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know
fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13
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