The Family Is Divine In Origin. Series

The Bible teaches that the institution of family is of divine origin and purpose. It also provides guidelines for good relations within the family. A commitment to the divine principles provides today’s best hope for the recovery of family life. Marriage is a divine institution, ordained and regulated by God’s word. It is found in every human culture. God formed humanity as male and female with the intent that a man leave his father and mother to cling and commit to a permanent union with one woman (Gen 2:24).

It is the first institution established and elevated to the most intimate of relationships by God and the only one founded before the fall of man. Many people throughout the ages have questioned, rebelled against or attempted to change the pattern of this ideal covenant forged by God. Rooted in a divine origin, marriage is an institution that is not subject to the human school of thoughts, electoral process, political correctness or even the cultural trends that influence the tide of traditional or liberal thinking today. We can either listen to the world's opinion or the Lord's Word. Those are the only two choices. Either we go with the flow of what's happening in our society, and give in to the whole system or we hold up the Word of God and say This is what God requires. And as for me and my house, we will hear the Word of the Lord.

In Matthew's gospel, we have the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of marriage. When some people confronted Jesus about grounds for divorce, his response affirmed God’s original and perfect blueprint for marriage—the Creation ideal.

Pay attention as I read Matthew 19, verses 1 to 6, “When Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate.” (Matthew 19:1-6).

In His Sermon on the Mount the Lord had already declared that ““You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce. But I say that a man, who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery." Matthew. (5:31-32). Jesus answered the question not on the basis of rabbinic custom and the debate but rather from the account of creation and God’s original design. Jesus in effect said, "Haven't you ever read the book of Genesis?” And the Lord answered them by directing the Pharisees to God's original intention in marriage. Jesus gives Four fundamental reasons why divorce is wrong.

First, God made Adam and Eve in the beginning, male and female. In Genesis 1:27 the Hebrew terms male and female are emphatic, i.e., the one male and the one female. The original purpose of creation was that Adam and Eve would remain together as husband and wife. When God created, He created Adam and Eve. There were no spares. There were no options. There were no alternatives. And that was the divine intention in the very beginning...one man, one woman, divine plan, no option. He didn't not make provision for polygamy. He did not make provision for divorce by making any spare people. There was no option and that's the whole point of what He's saying.

Second, God said originally that the man would "leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." The first is one man created for one woman; the second is a strong bond. Remember that neither Adam nor Eve had an earthly parent, so the statement was meant for future generations. The word translated cleave (Heb. dabaq) means to bind together; to be glued together, speaking of intimacy and commitment. The design of marriage was the contracted union between two people, who become one entity, i.e., "one flesh." They are not to be consider two, but one! So God's divine wonderful order, God's perfect purpose and plan, and that they should leave their parents and cleave ... and the word cleave is the word we want to note. It means, basically, to have a bond that can't be broken. It's a word that's used really for glue. It means to be stuck.