Meaning of “one flesh”
What does it mean to be “one flesh”?
— Here’s a few questions to get into specifics:
Does ‘one flesh’ happen when you get married?
Does it happen with sex? Does first base count? Second? Third?
Something else?
Is it a continuing process that builds slowly or is it more of an on-off status that happens at a moment in time?
Is it undoable?
Is it possible to be one flesh with many partners?
— What are some interesting reads? I’m looking for both reliable and otherwise.
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I have found this site helpful for their short commentary on a variety of issues. https://www.gotquestions.org/the-two-shall-become-one-flesh.html
That’s helpful.
The article JD linked covers a lot of what people tend to say is meant by “one-flesh”: sex, marriage, procreation, and companionship.
It also calls it permanent.
Is that permanence an intrinsic aspect of the one-flesh union? (IS)
Or is it a call for believers to treat marriage as permanent and therefore to live out this one-flesh relationship? (OUGHT)
The article ends with “a husband and wife take solemn vows to become permanently one flesh,” which certainly makes this sound like what ought to be.
And yet, in 1 Cor 6:16, Paul says, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” This seems to make the one-flesh relationship a reality that exists (at least in this situation) with or without our intent.
Discussion