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The United States has one of the highest divorce rates in the world, yet this has done little to dispel our love for weddings. Millions tuned in to watch the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and numerous reality television shows feature brides or wedding planners.

The real reason we love weddings goes to the roots of Creation itself: God Himself established marriage at the beginning. Genesis 1 continues a cascade of declarations, “and it was good,” but now that chorus screeches to a halt when God says, “It is not good [emphasis added] for the man to be alone” (2:18). Creation stands incomplete, as none of the animals fulfill either Adam’s or God’s purpose (v. 20). Genesis 1 gives us clues as to why.

God made all things, but made only mankind specifically “in his own image” (1:27). Bearing His image has many implications for us, but one is that we are to be creative as He creates and bring forth life. God wanted to share something of His creative power with humanity, and so Adam needed a physical complement. Scripture proclaims that the male-female sexual union within marriage alone helps mankind bear God’s image.

Genesis 1 also hints at the plurality in the God-head in verse 26, “Let us make mankind in our image” (cf. John 1:1–3). Adam by himself cannot fully bear God’s image to creation. Adam and Eve become one as God Himself is one (Deut. 6:4), but just as the Father is not the Son, so too Adam and Eve have distinction and worth as individuals apart from their unity. Their marriage partnership hints at the reality of the Trinity, and the relationship between Christ and His church (Eph. 5:32).