9 Two are better than one,
because there is a good reward for their labor together.
10 For if they fall,
then one will help up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls
and has no one to help him up.
11 Also if two lie down together, then they will keep warm;
but how can one keep warm by himself?
12 And if someone might overpower another by himself,
two together can withstand him.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 MEV
Words Have Meanings
Focus: Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Words of one language can’t always be translated into a single word. For example the word helper in the Modern English Version, written as help meet in the King James Version.
The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew definition H5828 defines the meaning of both ‘helper’ and ‘help meet.’ The Hebrew word for this is עֵזֶר ʻêzer, ay’-zer. It is derived from H5826; meaning aid or help, a masculine word, used several times in the Old Testament. For one example, Exodus 18:4. And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and He delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” The role of a wife as a helper to her husband is clear. It compares with God being a helper.
The Value of a Wife
In the Gospel of Matthew, there is the story of Jesus being judged before Pilate. Pilate knew Jesus had broken no Roman laws and was not worthy of death. As Pilate pondered his situation, his wife approached him with this warning, recorded in Matthew 27:19. “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man, for I have suffered much today in a dream on account of Him.”
Through personal experience, I have learned to always listen to my wife’s warnings and to revere her opinions.
All Christians are commanded to unconditionally love one another. Reference: John 13:34-35. The word love comes from the Greek word ἀγαπάω (Strong’s G25), pronounced agapaō.
This mandate applies to both the wife and the husband. The important distinction is the command for men in Ephesians 5:25. It says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it.”
The marriage relationship requires the wife to yield to her husband, not to be his slave. Read Ephesians 5:22-24: 22 Wives, be submissive to your own husbands as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head and Savior of the church, which is His body. 24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
How does a “partner” compare to a wife?
Exodus 20:14 is one of the Ten Commandments. “You shall not commit adultery.”
ChristianAnswers.net defines sexual adultery. “Adultery is conjugal infidelity. An ADULTERER is a man who has sexual intercourse with a woman he is not married to, either a married woman or one is engaged to be married.”
Strong’s concordance defines adultery, נָאַף, H5003. Marriage adultery compares to “idolatrous worship.”
In my South Texas parlance, an adulterous relationship is simply shacking up. In Biblical parlance, shacking up is a sin. To sin means to “miss the mark.”
Why is Holy Matrimony important?
In holy matrimony, the man and the woman become one. The two are equally important to the Kingdom of God. When there is disagreement, the wife is supposed to yield to her husband.
The wife’s role in holy matrimony is to warn her husband against making bad choices.
Holy Matrimony is an earthly representation of the Kingdom of God.
Bringing sin into sharper focus, Strong’s defines sin in G264 ἁμαρτάνω, pronounced ham-ar-tan’-o.
- to be without a share in
- to miss the mark
- to err, be mistaken
- to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong
- to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin
More to come…
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 