The Bible declares to us that marriage is a gift from God through which he allows human beings to bear witness to and display the mystery of the good news of his love to us in Christ. Therefore the goal of marriage is to bear witness to the essence of the living God AND ultimately bear witness to the story of redemption he has planned and is accomplishing to all of creation. This means that we do not get to redraw lines and give fresh interpretation of marriage based on cultural norms. The purpose, participants, and the practice of marriage are dictated to us by God alone.