This topic is important to address, readdress, teach on again and again and again, because we are running head long into a funnel of confusion and despair. ?Driving this despair is a belief that pleasure and fulfillment can be found outside of God?s decretive will. ?We have believed the lies of pornography, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, feminism, drugs, alcohol and any other false substitute for the joy we find in following Jesus. ?Our country is the most abundant country in history, and yet our despair is only increasing as we rise in our rejection of God.
“Over?the?past?two?decades,?the?use?of?antidepressants?has?skyrocketed.?One?in?10?Americans?now?takes?an?antidepressant?medication;?among?women?in?their?40s?and?50s,?the?figure?is?one?in?four.? ?This figure only goes up if you are over 40 years old.? This should cause us to pause, cause us to consider and reflect, that just maybe we are believing a lie seeking those things which will never truly satisfy.
We live in a time where it is controversial to even think that God made man and women as two distinct sexes and designed for different complimentary purposes and callings.? But this is how God made mankind, and it is obvious in His word and in creation.? Ultimately to believe God?s created design for man and woman is to believe the gospel, to reject it is to reject the gospel.
So what does the bible say about mankind and why should it matter?
- God made man male and female, and He did this to reflect His image. Man does not fully reflect God?s image by himself and woman does not fully reflect God?s image.? Genesis 1:27?
- Male and female?s first blessing from God was in the form of a command ?Be fruitful and multiply?.? So this command ranks very high to say the least.? Genesis 1:28
- God made man out of the dust of the ground and God made women out of man. Genesis 1:7, 1:21
- Man?s first job was to tend and keep the garden, and woman?s first job was to help man tend the garden. Genesis 1:15, 1;18
- So the pattern from the beginning of creation was set- man leaves to become one flesh with his wife. Genesis 2:24, Mark 10:6-8
- For women the fall resulted in experiencing increased pain in childbearing, desire oriented towards their husband, and husband is to rule over his wife.? Genesis 1:16
- For man the fall resulted in a life long struggle with his work and dominion mandate.? This also includes sure death and returning to dust.? Genesis 1:17-19
- Despite the falls impact on mankind, God in His sovereignty promised salvation through the seed of the woman. Genesis 3:15
- Man and woman are to marry and give due affection to one another, and the reason for this due affection is two fold: 1) in marriage each has authority over each other?s body, 2) to help each other fight Satan and temptation because mankind lacks self-control. 1 Cor. 7:3-5
- The Lord commanded husband and wife not to divorce, except for sexual??????? ? 1 Cor. 7:11, Matthew 5:32
- We are free to marry the opposite sex as long as they are Christians.? 1 Cor. 7:39, 6:14
- Wives are symbolic of the church, and like the church submits to Christ, so the wife submits to her husband.? Not to man in general but to their husband.?Ephesians 5:22-24
- Husbands are symbolic of Christ, which means they are to give their lives for their wives, love their wives, and wash them with the word in order to present their wives more glorious. ?Ephesians?5:23-29
- Marriage is a great mystery because God?s salvation is declared through marriage, which is the reality of Christ saving the church.? Marriage is a shadow and the gospel is the real thing.?Ephesians?5:32-33
- Because of the fall woman are not to be preachers or hold ecclesiastical positions of authority over man.? Don?t focus on the doors God has closed, focus on the doors God has opened.? 1 Timothy 2:12
- If a husband does not provide for his family, then in affect he is denying the faith and worse than an unbeliever.? 1 Timothy 5:8
- Older men are to be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in the faith, love and patience.? Titus 2:2
- Older women are to be reverent, not slanderers, sober, and teach young women to love their husbands, their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, and obedient to their own husbands.? Titus 2:3-5
- Both points 18 and 19 are proper for sound doctrine and that the word of God may not be blasphemed.? Titus 2:1, 5
- Wives are to be submissive to their own husbands even if they are not Christians, and this is the power of women that their husband can be won over to the faith by their conduct.? 1 Peter 3:1-2
- Wives should be outwardly beautiful, but that is pale in comparison to how they should focus on beautifying their hearts.? 1 Peter 3:3-4
- Husbands are not to be an ass, bullish, or domineering, for your wife is the weaker vessel and an heir together of grace.? If you disobey on this point, God will not answer your prayers.? 1 Peter 3:7
I went verse by verse ascribing little narrative as possible in order to let scripture clearly speak for its self.? We are in the position we are in, because we have rejected God?s word regarding marriage.? God?s word is clear and sufficient on marriage, and we just simply don?t want to believe it.? This unbelief began in the church and so no wonder the world has gone after various sexual arrangements.
But here is why this topic is so important.? We get marriage right, we get the gospel right.? God has intertwined the two in such a way that they go hand in hand.? Marriage between a man and a woman is a silhouette of the reality of what Christ is doing in this world- saving His bride the Church.
