Theme: One Flesh till death
Text: Genesis 2:18-24
Greetings:
I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Lord is good, and his love endures forever. Today, we are meditating on the challenging message for this society. Stay True – to your life partner.
Introduction:
The sabbath and marriage were two ordinances instituted in innocency, the former for the preservation of the church, and the latter for the preservation of mankind (Benson).
God designed the institution of marriage as the basis for the whole universal principles. Marriage properly understood from the Biblical principles could be lasting and joyful. Marriage is honourable, holy and lasting as per the principles of God. The man never lived like an animal in a marriage relationship. We live in an age of broken marriages and divorces. These are in increasing trend in Christian homes and that too urban context and metropolitan setups.
We live in challenging times. But one thing is sure the ego and egalitarian spirit of the partners. The absence of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible in married life leads to irreparable separation. I would like to mention three things about marriage:
- Historical
- Honourable
- Holy
Live out and leave it to your children and grandchildren.
1. Wedding is Historical (Genesis 2:18-22)
God created man in his image. He created them as male and female. Moses completed the report just by one sentence about the creation of humanity. The modus operandi was missing in the first account (Genesis 1:26-28) but detailed in the second account.
God gave Adam one of his kind, but of the opposite sex, to be his companion and helpmate. The man and the woman were equal in status as being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and were harmoniously united, to the exclusion of all others (18-25). The woman was later given the name Eve, meaning ‘life’ or ‘living’(Genesis 3:20).
Adam was a social being, He needs to hold a conversation with his superior, also with his equal. Since, he was an individual who needed a mate, with whom he may take sweet counsel. And the benevolent Creator resolves to supply this want by creating a suitable mate (Albert Barnes).
The wedding is historical because it was instituted by God with Adam and Eve. He was concerned about bringing the right alliance for one another. In Judaism marriage was considered to be an ideal state of life for a man. The word helpmate suggests that both sexes are mutually dependent on each other.
Though man is created first, with the woman to help him (1 Timothy 2:13); however, this does not refer to superiority or inferiority. Since Adam and Eve were in a spiritual unity integrated without sin, there was no need for exclusive headship. (Dr Thomas Constable).
God made a helpmate to Adam. She would help him in all the affairs of life. Such as the propagation of his species, to provide things useful and comfortable for him. Preparing and sharing food, take care of the children like himself, be like in nature, temper, and disposition, inform and shape, she would be pleasing to his sight, and with whom he might delightfully converse, and be in all respects agreeable to him, and entirely answerable to his case and circumstances, his wants and wishes (John Gill).
Union of Abraham with Sarah, the wedding of Isaac and Rebecca, the wedding of Moses and Zipporah, the wedding of Joseph and Mary are historical events. God ordained and caused to come to reality. Hananiah and Sapphira.
2. Wedding is Honourable (Genesis 2:23)
The creation of Man is described in Genesis 1:26-28 and now the creation of woman in Genesis 2:18-23. These are the divine designs. God made Adam out of dust but he made Eve out of the Rib of Adam. The implied meaning is Adam had to feel Eve as part of his life, no man hates his flesh. She was the flesh of flesh and bone of Adam (Genesis 2:23). A more literal rendering of the original Hebrew is: all right; this is now; here now; this one at last; this time; now at last; Yes!. Severally scholars put these words in the mouth of Adam after he first sighted Eve (ref:bible.org).
Thus woman is no casual or hasty production of nature but is the finished result of labour and skill. Finally, she is brought with special honour to the man as the Creator’s last and most perfect work. She is the crown of her husband (Ellicott). Eve wedded Adam resulted in the man passes out of solitude into society, out of unity into multiplicity. The Almighty has called intelligent beings into existence in two ways. The angels he seems to have created as individuals Mark 12:25, constituting an order of beings the unity of which lies in the common Creator (Albert Barnes).
“Marriage has been described as a triangle with God at the top: the closer each partner moves to God, the closer they move toward one another. If they move far from God, they move far from one another. As soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they experienced alienation from each other and Adam began blaming Eve for his problems (3:7, 12). Broken marriages always result of one partner moving away from God.”(ref:bible.org). Until the woman was formed Adam was an incomplete being (Calvin).
3. Wedding is Holy (Genesis 2:24-25)
From the beginning, God was so concerned about the relationship and partnership of the two. God intended monogamy, man invented polygamy.
God expected holiness and man adult the relationship. Always man found reasons to justify all his activities and unfaithfulness. The conjugal relation and the highest affection stands all above relationship on the earth. It is a holy and sacred event approved by God. Their natural skin had holy garments with innocence. Therefore, they were never ashamed of their look and attire. They were holy and pleasing to God and one another. Till the sin entered their inner chamber, they were holy with enjoying the fellowship and communion with God and companionship with one another.
What Bible talks about widow remarriage and remarriage of the Divorces? What about the separated families, deserted men or women? What about the unfaithful man and women in marriage? What about having an extramarital relationship and pre-marital sex in the design of God for marriage? Stay True to the wedding covenant is the lasting call of the everlasting God.
Engagement itself has been counted as a noteworthy covenantal relationship according to Biblical understanding (Hosea 2:13). God ordained some to be married (Genesis 2:18) and some to be single (1 Corinthians 7:7-9).
