The Covenant of Marriage Study Guide - Johnson

This twelve week study shows how the historic understanding of Covenant helps us build a love-for-a-lifetime Marriage. Marriage is not what our culture-or we- say it is. What is the one flesh relationship that was designed by God?

When two enter a Covenant, the identity of each party enters the other. This produces a bond of shared identity between the two and alters the nature of each-"what God has joined together." God's instructions are logical consequences of these realities. We love the other as we love ourselves because the other is now part of us. Our hearts want to love, but we do not love consistently. Why? Because our guidance systemour old sense of self-interest-pulls in other directions.

Covenant is not just a tie that binds. It is also a plan that teaches us what to do, why we do these things, and how we become able to do them. Our married self is a new self. Obedience does not oppose our nature; it authentically expresses our new self and new bond. Shifting our guidance system to follow God's plan and building this new life is the path to the best Marriage.