The Gospel of Jesus Christ should influence every relationship and area of the Christian’s life, especially the marriage of believers. When one turns from their sinful, selfish ways and puts trust in Christ they find great peace (Romans 5:1), through the “Gospel of Peace”. Finding peace with God and no longer being His enemy effects the whole disposition of a person. And this peace carries over into every other relationship, especially the marriage relationship. The Gospel of Peace brings peace in our relationship with God and others by dealing with the problem of sin.

Sin & selfishness create enmity and turmoil in relationships (Romans 8:7, James 4:1-4) and the Gospel of Peace is the means of finding reconcilation. The Scripture says “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10 ESV). Think about how God acted toward you and I while we were enemies of God. He displayed love and kindness to us when we were disobedient, unthankful, unloving and unfaithful to Him. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). Through the sacrificial death of Christ you and I can be forgiven of our offenses and find peace with God.

This mercy & forgiveness that we have experienced through the gospel should also be extended to our spouses. The Apostle Paul wrote the Colossians and said bear “with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:13 ESV). Notice how Paul points to God forgiving you as the driving motivation behind your extension of forgiveness to others. Freely giving the forgiveness we ourselves have received is one way to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15 ESV). For when we withhold forgiveness from others there is deep distress and turmoil (Matthew 18:35). The gospel impacts marriage relationships bringing peace and reconcilation to the most broken and struggling marriages. If spouses followed the example of Christ then there would not be divorce, and much pain, stress and sorrow would be avoided.

There is a precious married couple that my wife and I are mentoring. They recently turned to Christ and have displayed beautiful fruits of believing and embracing the gospel. Their marriage relationship is being gloriously restored by the gospel. One of them recently told the other “we don’t fight like we used to” and the other responded saying “this is how it’s supposed to be”. There should be peace in every marriage that is truly gospel-centered.

Believe and embrace the truth of the Gospel and allow it to shape your marriage into a glorious reflection of the relationship between Christ and the Church. This is what God designed marriage to be, namely to display His glory. But every married couple has sinned and fallen short of displaying the glory of God in their marriage. God, however, gives grace through the gospel and by His grace He can make your marriage glorious. His strength fits perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).

May God give grace & peace to you and your marriage.