Exposition

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the beasts of the field, the creatures of the sea, the birds of the sky and God saw that they were good. However, in Genesis 2:18, the Lord God said “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.” Then God created Eve and brought her to Adam. Here we see God Himself contract the very first marriage. This took place in the Garden of Eden. Subsequently, a man has to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife (Matt 19:5). Therefore, we can conclude that godly biblical marriage is between two people (a male and a female at birth) Genesis 2:22.

African culture demands that the families of the prospective bride and groom meet to contract the marriage. After the customary rights are performed and the solemnization is done by the church, the couple carry on with their married life. Neither the families that contracted the marriage nor the pastor who blessed the marriage are supposed to play active roles in the marriage. Any person or group besides the couple is considered a third party. Thus a third party refers to a person or group besides the two primarily involved in a situation. A third party could be a person, parent, siblings, in-laws, pets, habits, practices, lifestyle, career or any obsession.

If any of the above mentioned infringes on the marital relationship, the consequences can be dire, the marriage can be unpleasant. Third party involvement in a marriage must be handled properly so that what God has joined together will remain intact.