MARRIAGE (1)

Marriage is not just a cultural tradition – it was set in place before human cultures, before family and tribal or national traditions began. Marriage was at the very beginning – which is why all cultures have at least the shreds of the idea remaining. Marriage was God’s doing. Genesis means 'beginning' and it gives the account of the beginning of the world and everything in it – including the first humans and the joining together of man and woman as husband and wife. Understanding marriage as God intended it will help us get over a lost marriage, repair a damaged one, avoid doomed ones and help the unmarried and the young to aspire to rich, God-glorifying marriages that will bring them joy and fulfilment.

When God made humans he made them

1. the same – both in his own image

2. different – separate genders with differing roles and responsibilities

In Genesis 1 we read that God created man and woman in his own image. The first man and woman were equally dignified by this likeness to God. The emphasis is on what man and woman had in common at their essence.

Genesis 1.26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

These verses are a general account of the origin of men and women

– both were God’s creatures

– both had God’s likeness imprinted upon their nature

– both shared a position of authority over the rest of creation

– they were created the same and yet they were not identical – they were distinct personalities and they were of different gender: male and female.

In Genesis 2, Moses puts the zoom lens on the creation of man and woman and focuses in on the distinct difference there is between the two. The emphasis is on their maleness and femaleness and how this cast them in different but complimentary roles in life.

Both these aspects of humanity (their common likeness to God and the different roles given them) were messed up by the fall. The likeness to God that both man and woman shared was ruined by their sinful attempt at independence from God. The relationship between their unique differences was distorted and sin-damaged. This is why we now have effeminate men and masculine women. This is why there is oppression of women by men and manipulation of men by women. This is why marriage is casual and sex has no boundaries. This is why there is rape and adultery. This is why people use technology to have sex with no babies and make babies with no sex. The sin in the nature of men and women is never more powerfully and ruinously demonstrated than in their roles and relationships with each other.

When the gospel comes to a person, it restores both the likeness to God and the roles and relationships between men and women. Proper, God-centred marriages are crucial evidence of new birth. For the individual experiencing new birth, there is not an instant restoration in every part, but marriage is one of those aspects of life in which healing and renewal begins. Frequently there are hurts, grievances, errors of judgment, oppressions, sins and wrong desires in a person’s past that have to be overcome, unravelled or laid to rest. This is part of the Holy Spirit’s beautiful restoration work that he affects in us. In this life there may be some healed scars that remain; but at least the open sores are closed up and healed. This is why we need to rediscover and talk about marriage and teach our children about it from the Bible: so that mistakes and grief that we have caused and others have caused to us, will be not be repeated by our children. We need to go back to God’s original intention for man/woman and especially husband/wife relationships so we can enjoy the blessing and value contained in them.