Book Review - 7 Reasons Why God Created Marriage

In The Seven Reasons God Created Marriage, James Ford, senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago, aims to provide a blueprint for couples, especially those contemplating marriage. Pastor Ford brings a rich background of pastoral experience and marriage and family counseling to the writer’s table. He teaches that couples must understand why God created marriage before they can have the joy at home that God intended. He writes, “To be specific, marriage was created for the partners to share the following with each other: the pattern of the Trinity, partnership, perfecting, procreation, pleasure, purity, and the picture of Christ” (p. 16). It is upon these seven reasons that the book is structured.

Foundationally, Ford wants the reader to understand that following the pattern of the Trinity in the home is the key reason for marriage. He repeatedly explains how fulfilling one of these seven purposes fulfills God’s larger purpose of picturing the Trinity in marriage. For example, on the subject of procreation Ford states, “My point is, as the leader of your home, God helps us to prosper when we do it His way; but it’s up to every individual to allow Him to be your leader. If you follow the blueprint of the Trinity that is laid out for you, you and your family will be blessed of the Lord, living in peace and prosperity” (p. 132).

Ford redirects the reader to this foundational reason for marriage in similar ways in every chapter. He ends the book by presenting the other foundational reason for marriage—picturing Christ—then explains how this final reason completes God’s desire for marriage.

It may be helpful to summarize the five reasons Ford gives in addition to the pattern of the Trinity and the picture of Christ. The first of these is partnership. Ford teaches that each person is uniquely created male or female and each is meant to complement the other, so he seems to be writing from a complementarian perspective in the area of partnership.

Next, Ford explains that marriage partners are given to help perfect each other spiritually. The book details how each person will bring spiritual tests and trials into his spouse’s life and how this will either build up or tear down. Ford encourages spouses to work at perfecting their mates.

The book then explains that procreation is also in God’s blueprint—because God wishes to bring forth a reflection of Himself on Earth many times over. Ford provides notes on parenting, divorce and domestic violence in this chapter and takes a strong stand against divorce, though allowing for it in the case of sexual sin (p. 147).

Pleasure is the next reason the book discusses. God created marriage and the marriage bed for pleasure, not just procreation. The author explains that this pleasure is holy and blessed and reflects the intimacy that exists in the Godhead. He also states that God views sex as an act of worship (p. 160).

The fifth reason Ford believes God created marriage is purity. The author describes the beauty of a wholesome and sanctified marriage and emphasizes how offensive it is to God to allow impurity into a marriage.

In the final chapter, Ford goes full circle from the Trinity to the picture of Christ. The other five reasons: partnership, perfecting, procreation, pleasure and purity are all practical displays of these two spiritual realities. The book could have been titled, The Two Reasons God Created Marriage and Five Ways to Live Those Reasons Out at Home, but the original title is a bit more pithy and attention-grabbing. In his discussion of the final reason, the author further explains the picture we are to paint through marriage:

We began this discussion of the seven reasons why God created marriage with a parallel of a human relationship to the pattern of the Trinity. We end now with the picture of Christ and His relationship with His bride, the church. That means we’ve come full circle in demonstrating how a marriage partnership is a spiritual reflection of God’s Trinity and Christ’s relationship with His bride, the church.

God made us in His image. If we are to imitate Him, we must walk in the power and love that He gave us and behave like our Creator God. So when you look at a husband and wife and the relationship that they build together, that is what you should see-a reflection of God’s image. (p. 202)

The biggest problem with the book is clarity. It was hard to follow the thought process through each individual chapter. The overall concept is clear, but the chapters are choppy and do not seem to flow. The author varied his organizational method from chapter to chapter and I found myself re-reading portions in individual chapters to identify the point.

Parts of the book are overly miscellaneous, and it would be better to eliminate topics in chapters where they do not seem to be needed. Some topics seem to have wandered into the book from pastoral counseling sessions. For example, the author covers domestic abuse in some detail. This may be useful during counseling, but in a few years the statistics will no longer be accurate. This weakens a book that is built on timeless truths, risking that it will look outdated and irrelevant in years to come, which would be a shame.

On the positive side, Ford does a good job of giving the doctrinal truths practical legs to walk on. Each chapter is filled with real life experiences and illustrations the author has found to be practical. As a pastor, I benefited from these illustrations. As a husband, I was encouraged to strive to express the pattern of the Trinity in my home through service, submission, strong leadership and allowing my spouse to carry out her role in building me.

I would encourage single adults or engaged couples to read this book. Though Ford is not targeting married couples, I believe the book is a great read for them also. It will help give potential mates a blueprint for what God desires them to express in their home and help married couples get on track—or stay on track—with God’s plan.

Daniel Ruiz is a church planter, almost two years into starting Hope Community Baptist Church in Cherry Valley, California. He holds a B.A. in Bible from Pensacola Christian College. After college, he served in Las Vegas, Nevada for a few years as a children’s pastor, then returned to seminary and completed his M. Div.