The Supreme Purpose of Marriage

Introduction

When you think about marriage, what comes to mind first? The white dress, the tuxedo, the children to come, a stable home, intimacy? Apostle Yvan CASTANOU, in a teaching given at Impact Centre Chretien Montreal, completely flips the question. He does not ask you how to make your marriage succeed. He asks you why marriage exists in the first place. Because if you do not know the original intent of the one who created a thing, you cannot define what its success looks like. You will guess, invent something according to your culture, your intelligence, your environment, and miss the point entirely.

Marriage, says the apostle, is the entry point for every human being on earth. That is also why it is the door most attacked by the devil: sabotage the laboratory, and you infect everything that comes out of it. Understanding the supreme purpose of marriage is therefore not a subject reserved for couples. It is a vital subject for an entire generation.

Outline of the teaching

1. The first purpose: manifesting God's reign and will on earth

In Genesis 1:26-28, God does not say first, "make children." He says, "let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, so that he may rule." Humanity's first mandate is not reproduction, it is government. Making the earth a colony of heaven. Letting the culture, the values, the lifestyle, the beauty of heaven become visible here below, through men and women who bear the image and likeness of God.

Now, the apostle points out, God never entrusts dominion to a single person. He himself operates in the universe through a tripartite council: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Together they govern. On earth, he institutes marriage as the first organ of government: a man, a woman, and the Holy Spirit in the middle, the three stranded cord that cannot be broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12). That is why Eve is called a fitting helper before there is any talk of children or intimacy. There is a mandate before there is a household.

When a man and a woman are in perfect symbiosis, both bearing the image of God, with the Spirit at the center, they become able to engage on earth the same dimension of power and authority that God deploys in the universe. They can break tyrannies of darkness in their territory, open heavens, close doors, agree to ask for something and receive it (Matthew 18:19-20).

2. The second purpose, the supreme purpose: perpetuating the race that bears God's image

Here the apostle insists: this is the heart of the message. Look closely at Genesis 1:27. God says twice that he creates man in his image. That is not a scribal duplicate, it is a message. And it is to that humanity, bearing his image, that he then says, "be fruitful and multiply." God is not asking for the multiplication of just any human being. He is asking for the multiplication of his image. The perpetuation of his race.

But when sin entered, Adam and Eve lost that image. They lost God's nature, his goodness, his faithfulness, his capacity to love. Dominion was taken from them: after the flood, in Genesis 9:1, God repeats, "be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth," but "rule" has disappeared. The first marriage failed to produce a race of men and women bearing the image of God.

That is where the mystery of the second marriage comes in. "Christ is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4). Where Adam failed in the face of temptation, Christ triumphed and kept the image of God. At the resurrection, God institutes a new marriage: no longer two becoming one flesh, but man and the Lord becoming one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). Christ merges with the believer, engraves his image in him, and thereby reintroduces on earth the race he wanted from the beginning.

That is why Paul writes in Ephesians 5:31-32, regarding "the two shall become one flesh": "this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." The true marriage, the definitive marriage, is not the union of man and woman. It is the union of Christ and his church. And the purpose of your earthly marriage, if it has one, is to be a visible platform for that marriage, a place where the image of God is formed, multiplied, and fills the earth.

3. "Until Christ is formed in you"

This is Paul's word in Galatians 4:19: "my children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you." It is not enough to be born again. It is not enough to go to church, sing in the choir, perform miracles. Many will say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, cast out demons, and do many mighty works?" (Matthew 7:22-23). And he will answer them, I never knew you.

What God looks at is whether you are compatible with his image. Whether Christ is fully formed in you. The flesh must be crucified, the soul brought into obedience, the inherited patterns of bitterness, jealousy, rejection, and debauchery must be broken. You cannot settle for saying, "I was born this way, my parents were like that." You have to fight for Christ to be formed.

The same work must happen for your children. The real question is not, do they go to church? The real question is, is Christ being formed in them? A biological child who does not bear the image of God is not what God calls "fruitfulness." A disciple won, formed, matured until Christ appears in him, that is true fruitfulness.

4. Why Paul remained single

Paul had understood this mystery. He was not frustrated. He was not incapable. He had voluntarily given up marriage because he wanted to devote his whole life to fulfilling the supreme purpose: winning souls and working so that Christ would be formed in them. He had understood that the mandate of dominion is no longer limited to a man and woman couple filled with the Holy Spirit. "In Christ there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). Two brothers, two sisters, filled with the Spirit and united in prayer, carry the same authority as the first couple in Eden.

So if you are not married and you feel depressed about it, listen: the Father looks at you and is troubled. You have not understood. Not being married is not something for God to be sad about. The unmarried woman is concerned about the things of the Lord, about how to please him (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). Use this season to perpetuate his race, not to write your own book of Lamentations.

Key takeaways

1. Marriage was not made for your needs. Enter it happy. Otherwise you will become like the leech in Proverbs 30:15 that keeps saying "give, give," and you will wear out your spouse. Your source is not your husband or your wife. It is God.
2. The first purpose of marriage is the reign. Manifesting God's will on earth as it is in heaven, through a man and a woman united by the Holy Spirit.
3. The supreme purpose is Christ formed. God wants to perpetuate his race, men and women who bear his image, not just biological children or religious Christians.
4. The prayer of agreement carries formidable power. Two Spirit filled believers, united in faith and in mind, have the ability to command heaven from earth (Matthew 18:18-19).
5. All Scripture speaks of Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible leads back to one person. Christ at the beginning, Christ in the middle, Christ at the end.

Personal application

1. What is the true driving force behind your desire for marriage (or your current marriage) today: your own happiness, your needs, or God's reign through your life?
2. Is Christ fully formed in you, or merely present? Which areas of your character still refuse to be crucified?
3. If you are married, do you practice the prayer of agreement with your spouse over situations beyond you?
4. How many people have you not only won to Christ, but walked with until Christ was formed in them?
5. If you are single, how are you using this season to perpetuate the race of Christ rather than feeling sorry for yourself?

Verses cited

• Genesis 1:26-28 - "Let us make man in our image... so that he may rule"
• Genesis 2:18 - "It is not good for man to be alone"
• Genesis 9:1 - After the flood: "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth" (without "rule")
• 1 Corinthians 6:17 - "Whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him"
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 - "Christ, who is the image of God"
• Colossians 1:15-17 - "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation"
• Galatians 4:19 - "Until Christ is formed in you"
• Ephesians 5:31-32 - "This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church"
• Matthew 18:18-20 - "If two of you agree on earth..."
• John 5:39 - "You search the Scriptures... it is they that bear witness about me"
• Proverbs 30:15 - The leech with two daughters: "Give, give"

FAQ

So the purpose of marriage is not children?

Children are a fruit of marriage, a blessing God intends. But Apostle Castanou insists: that is not the purpose. The purpose is greater, perpetuating the image of God, the race of Christ. A biological child who does not bear the image of God does not fulfill the original design of marriage. On the other hand, winning and forming disciples in whom Christ is formed fully accomplishes the mandate of fruitfulness.

So should you get married, or stay single?

Both paths are valid. Paul himself chose singleness in order to devote himself entirely to the mission (1 Corinthians 7). Marriage is neither mandatory nor forbidden. What is asked is that you do not turn marriage into an idol, nor singleness into a source of frustration. Married or not, the central question remains: is Christ formed in you, and are you working toward him being formed in others?

In practical terms, how do I know if Christ is formed in me?

Look at the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Do these qualities appear more and more in your life, even under pressure and opposition? Are you increasingly able to love as Christ loves, to forgive as he forgives, to serve as he serves? Christ being formed in you happens through the crucifixion of the flesh, obedience to the word, and constant submission to the work of the Holy Spirit.