Now, let’s go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 5: “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife?” And also in Song of Solomon it says 7 times, “My sister, my spouse.” These expressions indicate that there is a double relationship in a Christian marriage. There is both the natural and the spiritual. We have “a wife,” which would be the natural side of things, and we have “a sister,” which is the spiritual side of things. That means that my spouse is to me both a wife and a sister in the Lord. It is interesting to see that in those seven references in the Song of Solomon, and here in 1st Corinthians 9, that the “sister” is always mentioned before the “wife.” This tells me that the spiritual relationship should come first. It must be in place in our lives first before we can properly have the other. We must have right relations with the Lord before we can have right relations with one another.
There is also the natural side of things that cannot be overlooked. What I mean by this is that the Lord is not asking you to marry someone that you are not naturally attracted to. It would make marriage an uncomfortable relationship otherwise, and the Lord understands this, and has given us the natural side too. God has made us all different, and we all have different likes and dislikes. For myself—I like freckles! When I ran into the Albertson family I thought I was in heaven! But I found the Lord’s anointed, and I am very thankful for the natural as well as the spiritual in our marriage.