Viola Davis, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, recently opened up about what it truly means to commit to someone in marriage and the sacrifice it requires. The “Air” star didn’t approach the subject from a Christian perspective and holds a host of perspectives on sexuality that are in apparent contradiction with the Bible, but she did offer salient insight into the value of marriage and the reward that comes from protecting it.
Davis said in a clip shared by conservative author and podcaster Ben Shapiro, exaggerating to make a point, “Your marriage doesn’t start when you say, ‘I do.’ Your marriage starts when you look over at your partner, and you wanna kill ’em, just thinking, ‘I cannot believe I married this human being. They are driving me crazy,’ and, in the next minute, you say, ‘I love them more than anything, and I’m sticking with it.'” The celebrity, who has been married to fellow actor Julius Tennon since June 2003, made the comments during an interview for the Amazon-owned streaming platform Freevee.
Davis continued, “Marriage is a commitment, and people don’t understand what commitment means. Commitment is total. That means even with the hard times or whatever — the agreement that you made, that you’re gonna stick with each other, means that, even when it gets hard … you almost die to yourself.” At the end of the clip Shapiro shared, he cut in to offer his insights.
He said, “By the way, this is why marriage is important as an institution. It’s not just that you have to make a commitment to a partner; you have to make a commitment to the institution, such that, even when you’re upset with your partner, the commitment to the principle of the marriage is the highest thing, actually.”
For Christians, the covenant of marriage is intended to model the Gospel. It is an earthly representation of Jesus’ eternal commitment to believers — the body of Christ, as it’s characterized in 1 Corinthians 12 — and His sacrifice for the church, the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27). Scripture commands marriage to be a lifelong union between one man and one woman.