What God Hath Joined Together
The title of the article likely caused you to think about a marriage. This phrase is often stated near the close of a wedding ceremony, indicating that the now married couple has been bound together into a single unit by the authority of God. This phrase is usually followed by “Let not man put asunder”, just as the Lord stated in Mark 10:9. This “connection” is ordained by God and reserved for a man and a woman. Per Eph. 5:31, where the Spirit had Paul write concerning Christ and the church, this is to be a life-changing and permanent “link”. To tear apart what God has joined together is a direct affront against God. Sadly, many disrespect God and His Word in regard to this noble institution.
However, marriage between man and woman is not all that “God hath joined together”. In Rom.7:1-6, the marriage analogy is used to teach the converted Jews that were being enticed to embrace the O.T. Law, that one previously under the Law, was no longer “bound” to that Law as it had been nailed to the cross of Christ per Col. 2:14. That “old” Law had died, and was now no longer in force. Rom. 7:4 makes this abundantly clear. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. We also read in 1Cor. 6:17, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
From the foregoing scriptures it is proven that he who obeys the gospel has been “joined” to Christ. If one needs additional truth, one can read Eph. 1:22-23 which proves that the “body of Christ” is the church. We also know from Acts 2:36-47 that those who obeyed the gospel, were “added” to the church, the body of Christ. God “binds” the obedient to the body of Christ as Acts 2:47b shows. None can “join” the church, but are “added to it”, only as they are born again when they are baptized into Christ for the remission of sins per God’s New Testament system.
Earlier, it was stated: “to tear apart what God and His Word has joined together is a direct affront against God”. This is true. When a marriage between a man and a woman is ‘dissolved’, except in death, what God joined together has been ‘torn apart’. But who is at fault in these cases? Before ‘finger pointing’ occurs, let me state that it is evident that one of the parties that have been joined together breaks the bond. It takes three, (God, man and woman), to make an earthly marriage, but sadly, one can break the bond. It takes two, (God and the penitent individual) to make the spiritual connection in Christ. Again, one of the two can shatter it.
Let no one say that God ‘puts asunder’ what He hath joined together. To do so is to claim God has gone against His own Word. Mal. 3:6a tells why the sons of Jacob were not consumed because of their refusal to keep the ordinances of God. God had previously made promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God always keeps His Word! He said: “For I am the LORD, I change not;”. In the New Testament, in Heb. 13:5b, the Christians to whom that epistle was written were told: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”. As with the earthly joining of two in holy matrimony, the spiritual bond of one in Christ is to last “till death do us part”. It can neither be God nor Christ who breaks this ‘union’ because in the apocalyptic vision of Rev. 1:18a, Christ said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore . . .”
In the afterlife, there is no “marriage or giving in marriage” such as is experienced in this realm per Jesus’ explanation to the erring Sadducees in Matt. 22:30. But there is a spiritual “bond” that can exist between man on earth and God in Heaven. God will not break that bond as has been shown above. The “putting asunder” what God hath joined together, is a separation. In the Old Testament, God was married to Israel spiritually as Jer. 31:31-32 reveals. Regarding this union in O.T. times, the Spirit had the prophet write: “I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:” God had another prophet warn Israel In Exek. 14:7, against setting up idols in their heart (mind), and in so doing, separating themselves from God.
In the New Testament, as we have previously shown, the old covenant between Israel and God had been ‘nailed to the cross’. This allowed a new spiritual “marriage” to be entered into through obedience to the gospel of Christ as is indicated in 2Cor. 11:2. The church is the “bride of Christ”. Just as Israel in the O.T. broke their ‘commitment’ to God, so can those who have been “joined together” with Christ through obedience to the gospel, put asunder what God hath joined together. Sin separates one from God! It did so in the Garden of Eden. It did so under the Patriarchal dispensation. It did so during the O.T. Mosaic dispensation. And it does so in the N.T. dispensation of time.
However, if one has not obeyed the gospel, they are not only NOT part of the bride of Christ, but are already ‘separated’ from God and as those described in Eph. 2:12 before their obedience, without Christ, having no hope, and without God the world. Will you not obey the gospel today? Become a part of “What God Hath Joined Together”, and then protect and nurture that spiritual relationship all the time remaining in your life, so you can spend eternity with God. If, as an erring child of God, you have unrepented sin, you’ve separated yourself from God (2Pet. 2:20). Don’t enter into eternity in either condition.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
