Marriage, as ordained by God, reflects a profound relationship patterned after Christ's bond with the church. The roles of husbands and wives embody God's ideal, emphasizing a complementary dynamic where each supports the other. The wife is designed to be a helper comparable to the husband, balancing the marriage relationship by making up for deficiencies and harmonizing as one flesh. Her role involves submission, not as a slave, but as an expression of her duty to the Lord, submitting to her husband as part of her Christian behavior to please God. This submission is rooted in the order of creation, where the husband is established as the head of the wife, responsible for leadership and family decisions, while the wife aids and supports him in fulfilling God's design. The complementary nature of marriage was distorted by sin, leading to conflict and struggle for leadership between husband and wife. This distortion manifests as excessive desire on the wife's part to oppose and assert control, and as domineering rule on the husband's part, abandoning his God-given role to lead and care. Despite this, the fundamental teaching remains that the husband is to be the head, endowed with faculties to fulfill this role, while the wife complements him, helping him function according to God's will. Both are called to live to the glory of God, with the wife rejoicing in her position as a comparable helper, and the husband respecting and honoring her distinct nature, ensuring a partnership that reflects God's ordinance.

Human marriage should be viewed from God's perspective, modeled after the profound relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church. Jesus Christ serves as the perfect Bridegroom, setting the supreme standard for husbands to emulate in their marriages. Wives, like the spiritual Bride of Christ, must seek guidance from God's inspired word to foster the right perspective and relationship with their husbands. The love, joy, and peace essential for a successful Christian marriage are attainable only through God's Spirit, as both husband and wife remain teachable, obedient, and submissive in their intimate connection with the Father and Christ. Through the design of human marriage and family, God provides a workshop to understand how His family operates, revealing the dynamics of family relationships, hierarchy, and the responsibilities of each member. The mystery of Christ and the Church, described as great and profound, illuminates the spiritual union that mirrors the union between husband and wife. This mutual enlightenment shows that understanding the spiritual bond between Christ and the Church enhances comprehension of human marriage, while the human union offers insight into the divine relationship. Christian marriage is deemed the most precious human relationship, comprehensible only through the revelation of Christ's bond with the Church. The concept of "one flesh" underscores this unity, illustrating that a husband and wife are so closely united that they nourish and cherish each other as part of themselves, reflecting how Christ nourishes the Church. This union, sacred and sanctified by God, is designed for mutual satisfaction and delight, emphasizing a deep, spiritual oneness. The Church is portrayed as the fullness of Christ, completing Him in a unique sense, just as a wife completes her husband. As Adam was incomplete without Eve, who was taken from his substance, so Christ, in His role as Mediator, considers Himself incomplete until united with His Bride, the Church. This mutual completion highlights the sacredness of marriage, portraying the Church as part of Christ's very body, flesh, and bones, derived from Him through a divine operation akin to the creation of Eve from Adam. Ultimately, the relationship between husband and wife parallels the eternal bond between Christ and the Church, with husbands called to love their wives sacrificially as Christ loves the Church, and wives to respect their husbands as the Church reveres Christ. This divine analogy elevates marriage to a serious responsibility, reflecting the extraordinary unity and oneness that exists in the spiritual marriage of Christ and His Bride.