When the One Flesh biblical meaning of marriage changes we also lose the understanding of marriage as an expression of the nature of God's relationship to the Church in Ephesians 5. Consequently, marriage no longer serves as a reflection of the Good News of the oneness between God and his people in Christ. Children are a gift of God's grace. Not all couples are given this gift, yet their One Flesh of marriage and with God is fulfilled. If God's Story is a great revelatory mystery, marriage is, in part, a revelation of that mystery as it relates to husband and wife.
Marriage is more than meets the eye.
There is a mystery beyond the promise of lifelong union with each other. The word mystery comes from the Greek New Testament word musterion translated in the Latin New Testament as sacramentum . The meaning of the word mystery or sacrament suggests a visual sign of an unseen reality hiding beneath the surface of a thing. Marriage is such a mystery or sacrament, a sign of the nature of our relationship with God. Just as an icon in the Greek Orthodox Church is a picture that reveals the hidden presence of a deeper reality, so marriage is an icon that opens up the deeper meaning of our relationship with God in Christ.