What does it mean to be "one flesh" in a marriage?

There are many expressions used in both a wedding and when talking about love especially in reference to marriage. One expression is “to be one flesh in a marriage.” When someone gets married to someone else, it is called a union. They are united as one being or couple. Therefore, one flesh could mean one being together as in a marriage. They have come together to be united in one during a marriage.

That is why people put rings on their spouse’s finger. It is because the ring symbolizes unity. Sometimes, this expression is said during the marriage vows or when the minister is talking during the ceremony. Hopefully, these two people will be together forever. They will be united as one forever.

The words “one flesh” is found in Genesis 2:21-24 wherein it was stated that “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” If we are to take these words into consideration, one flesh would primarily mean that a man and woman marry each other and become one whole entity that cannot be divided into several pieces.