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Domestic Violence
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Violence & Marriage
Domestic Violence & Marriage
Is a clear manifestation of human sin at work in the most intimate
of human relationships. It is a gross distortion of the covenant of
love between married or unmarried partners, or the violation of a
relationship of love, trust, and care between parents and children.
God created us male and female, saying, “let us make humankind in
our own image, according to our likeness . . .” Gen.1:26. It is worth
noting that God speaks in the plural, evoking an understanding of God’s
identity as being in relationship with God’s total self. If both male
and female are created in the image of God, then both are sacred
manifestations of God’s being. Human beings are created to be in
partnership with God and with each other, and our concept of
partnership is illustrated in the covenantal relationships that God
established with many biblical couples, including Abraham and Sarah,
Isaac and Rebecca, and Joseph and Mary. Human partnership is most fully
developed in the context of covenant when both parties bind themselves
to each other through self-giving love and mutual forbearance.
In addressing the community of Corinth in the thirteenth chapter of
1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul defines the role that self-giving love
is to play in human relationships. As such, this passage applies not
only to relationships within communities of faith, it also communicates
a very tangible ethic for the intimacy of family relationships. “Love
is patient, love is kind, it is never 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. Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.” This passage identifies the high level of commitment
and devotion involved in covenantal love. When used as a guide for
one’s own actions within family relationships, this passage sets a
standard of behavior and accountability reflective of the love of Jesus
Christ.
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