Covenant of Marriage : How to Build the Best Marriage, the Best Life, and the Best You: A Guidebook for Couples and Singles

This twelve week study shows how the historic understanding of Covenant helps us build a love-for-a-lifetime Marriage. Marriage is not what our culture―or we― say it is. What is the one flesh relationship that was designed by God?

When two enter a Covenant, the identity of each party enters the other. This produces a bond of shared identity between the two and alters the nature of each―“what God has joined together.” God’s instructions are logical consequences of these realities. We love the other as we love ourselves because the other is now part of us. Our hearts want to love, but we do not love consistently. Why? Because our guidance systemour old sense of self-interest―pulls in other directions.

Covenant is not just a tie that binds. It is also a plan that teaches us what to do, why we do these things, and how we become able to do them. Our married self is a new self. Obedience does not oppose our nature; it authentically expresses our new self and new bond. Shifting our guidance system to follow God’s plan and building this new life is the path to the best Marriage.

Mark Johnson was introduced to the historically correct definition of Covenant in 1983. With this understanding, every seemingly unrelated aspect of Christianity fit together into a seamless whole that made perfect sense. Understanding the transformation that occurs as we enter Covenant is a key that unlocked more growth, deeper life change, and a more intimate relationship with God―a plan inherent in the nature of this relationship. After proving the importance of this understanding over decades in life, Marriage, family, teaching and mentoring, Dr. Johnson authored the Covenant Series to make this understanding―about Marriage and the New Covenant―available to everyone. Dr. Johnson and his wife, Holley, have raised seven children, who are now spread across the earth with a growing number of grandchildren. Their medical practice in the Nashville area has treated patients from forty-nine states and many foreign countries. Dr. Johnson also teaches and conducts research in his specialty.