Dating in Light of God’s Design
Creation Blessing and Mandate
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
— Genesis 1:27–28, NKJV
Genesis 1:27–28 does not use the word “marriage,” but it does establish the frame Jesus later treats as marriage’s foundation.
God makes humanity in His image as male and female, blesses them, and sends them to be fruitful, fill the earth, and exercise dominion.
In Matthew 19:4–6, Jesus joins this verse to Genesis 2:24: a man leaves father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and the two become one flesh. What God has joined, man must not separate. Male and female, blessing, fruitfulness, and covenant union belong together from the beginning.
The New Jerusalem
Scripture also carries that pattern to the end of the story. The New Jerusalem comes down “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” and heaven announces the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7–9; 21:2, 9).
Earthly marriage is not the whole point of creation, but it is a clear sign of the greater union toward which history is moving.
Young people feel the pull to pair. That desire is not an accident.
God coded companionship, attraction, and the longing to belong into human nature. For Christians that is exceedingly good news.
The Bible does not whisper about it. Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Paul’s letters, and the creation narratives speak with force about desire, covenant, fidelity, and the cost of treating those things lightly.
Dating can be a genuine gift—excitement, discovery, the glory of being young. It is not, however, an end in itself.
In God’s design it exists to serve lifelong marriage, not to practice serial attachment or to consume romance without covenant.
That is why dating cannot be left to feeling alone. It needs the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, and the presence of married elder couples. Parents and older Christian couples are not optional extras.
Without them, supervision by “the Spirit and the Word” becomes the blind leading the blind, a private interpretation of uncrucified souls.
Falling In Love Is a Gift
· Falling in love is a gift.
· Romance is a gift.
· Youth is a gift.
God gave those gifts with a purpose: faithful, lifelong marriages that show His faithfulness. The way to avoid unnecessary heartache, sin, and collapse is to accept and rejoice in the passion AND the Holy Scriptures and the holy Spirit and the church.
Take the Bible seriously and to learn from people whose marriages have actually lasted.
The urge to merge is great, however unformed desire without covenant, counsel, and truth is a catastrophe.
Please Note: