Sermon Tone Analysis

*Family Foundations, Part 2 – God’s Purposes for Marriage (Genesis 1-2)*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on November 16, 2008/

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

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Genesis 1:26-31 (NASB95) 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

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

29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, /I have given /every green plant for food”; and it was so.

31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

You could argue in one sense there’s multiple purposes of God for marriage, but tonight we’ll just look at /some/ we see in Genesis 1-2.

In another sense, God always has one /ultimate unifying/ purpose; creating people is for His glory (Isa.

43:7, etc).

God’s glory is not only the chief end of man (therefore marriage), but is also the aim of God, His main motive, His grand goal for all His creation, which Ps. 19 says declares the glory of God all the time everyday.

/ /

/God created man and woman to glorify God in marriage by:/

*Purpose #1: Reflecting God’s glory and image in relationship*

 

1 Corinthians 11:7 alludes to creation and says man “is the image and glory of God”

 

I trust you’re familiar with what God’s glory is and means, but not every believer has a good grasp of what God’s /image/ is.

Look at Genesis 1:27 again.

It says God made man in His own image, male and female He created them.

Both genders are made in the image of God; humanity alone in creation is in God’s image.

That’s why Genesis 9:6 says it is such a sin to murder a fellow human (as opposed to killing an animal) and James 3:9-10 says we must not even curse our fellow humans because they’re God’s image.

So God’s image is not something that was erased by sin, but our sin /effects /negatively the way we /reflect/ God’s image.

In the immediate context and wording of verse 26, we see man’s creation revealed differently with the personal pronouns God uses in creating man as opposed to other creatures (“us” and “our”).

Also there’s a difference with the creation of animals, which Genesis 1 repeatedly says was “after their kind” – but now we have a creation of God after God’s kind or likeness and image.

When I say that marriage is to glorify God and reflect God’s glory and image, of course single men or women or children are equally in God’s image and can glorify God, too. 1 Corinthians 7 in fact talks about the benefits of singleness in serving the Lord, and Jesus obviously glorified God fully without ever being married.

The non-married have unique and special ways they can devote themselves to God’s kingdom and glorifying God with less distractions.

But the Bible also indicates there is something very special about the relation of man and woman that Scripture communicates as a reflection of God’s very likeness and relation.

 

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 11:3 compares the relationship of man and woman to the relationship of God (the Father) with Christ.

That’s an important analogy, because Jesus is equal to God by nature and not inferior in His essence to the Father, but He willingly subjects and submits Himself.

That passage says it’s the same way with a woman who is equal and not inferior to man in her nature or worth, no less in the image of God, but who willingly submits herself to male leadership in the home and church.

In fact the intimate marriage relationship is to reflect the intimate Trinity relationship.

In Genesis 1:26 when God says “Let /us /make man in /our /image” we have the first hint of the Trinity – God is speaking within the relationship of the divine persons (He’s not talking to the angels as “us” because angels do not create, and mankind is said to be in the image of God in v. 27, not the image of angels and God).

Now notice the key word in the key OT verse on marriage here:

 

Genesis 2:24 (NASB95) 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become *one* flesh.

There’s another key word in the OT that every faithful Jew would know along with Genesis 2:24 (also key text on the family).

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NASB95) 4 “Hear, O Israel!

The Lord is our God, the Lord is *one*!

*[unity but can include more than 1 person like in Gen. 2:24]* 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This was their life and was to be repeated and recited and reminded daily.

Every young Jewish boy would learn this passage by heart and certainly Genesis 2:24 was familiar as well, and those 2 passages show that God’s very nature is revealed to Israel as being ONE just as man and woman are one in marriage (united personhood, which Scripture later reveals as 3 persons, one God).

So this first point is that God’s purposes for marriage involve reflecting God’s image in relationship.

Marriage is a picture of God’s very nature.

There was even a hint of the Trinity at the beginning of Gen. 1:

/ /

/Elohim /(plural noun) created (singular verb) heavens and earth

v. 2b “… and /the Spirit of God …” /Later Scripture also informs us that not only God’s Spirit was involved, but God’s Son was as well

 

The relational language of Genesis 1:26 (“us … our”) between the divine persons is a good place to start in understanding God’s image.

It involves relational beings, personhood (unlike animals).

God reveals Himself in this text as a relational God, a personal God who has always been in an eternal relationship and communion and fellowship with the other persons that make up the Godhead – what Christians later came to call the Trinity.

John MacArthur writes: ‘But above all, the image of God can be summed up by the word /personhood.

/We are /persons./

Our lives involve relationships.

We are capable of fellowship.

We are able to love other persons in a Godlike sense.

We understand communion.

We have an amazing capacity for language.

We have conversations.

We know what it is to share thoughts, convey and discern attitudes, give and take friendship, perceive a sense of brotherhood, communicate ideas, and participate in experiences with others.

Animals cannot do those things in the same sense people can.

That is why when God created man He immediately said that it was not good for man to be alone [2:18].

The image of God is personhood, and personhood can function only in the context of relationships.

Man’s capacity for intimate personal relationships needed fulfillment.

Most important, man was designed to have a personal relationship with God.’[1]

 

*/Marriage Purpose #2 in text – Reproducing godly offspring/*

 

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth  …

 

God’s glory and image was not be limited to the first couple, but they were to reproduce godly image-bearers of God who would glorify God until the whole earth is filled with the glory.

Sometimes we sing the song “Speak O Lord” which says I think in it’s last line /speak oh Lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.

/And God’s original intent for this world will happen some day when the world is filled with godly people, but that won’t happen until Jesus Christ returns and the Lord’s prayer is fulfilled “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Heaven’s kingdom must come down to earth before that will take place, but it will take place someday.

In the meanwhile, even though sin has entered the picture, it is still God’s calling to couples to reproduce and raise godly children and families, beginning with the blessing “be fruitful and multiply”

 

This purpose of marriage was not just for Adam and Eve and was not just stated before man’s fall into sin.

Look at Genesis 9 how God uses the same language to Noah’s family after all the ungodly were wiped off the face of the earth.

Genesis 9:1 (NASB95) 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth … 7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

The world quickly became ungodly again but God reiterates His purpose through His elect nation Israel:

 

Genesis 35:10-11 (NASB95) 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.”

Thus He called him Israel.

11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you.

This mandate was not just for men but was for couples in marriage, and the Bible recognizes the very special role a mother in particular plays and how vital her childrearing influence should be.

Proverbs also celebrates the godly mother and her role in teaching and bringing up children.

 

1 Timothy 2:14-15 (NASB95) 14 And /it was /not Adam /who /was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

15 But /women /will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

Your Bible may say “women will be saved through childbearing” –my Study Bible says:

‘Better translated in this context, “will be preserved.”

The Gr. word can also mean “to rescue,” “to preserve safe and unharmed,” “to heal,” or “to deliver from.”

It appears several times in the NT without reference to spiritual salvation (cf.

Matt.

8:25; 9:21,22; 24:22; 27:40,42,49; 2 Tim.

4:18).

Paul is not advocating that women are eternally saved from sin through childbearing or that they maintain their salvation by having babies, both of which would be clear contradictions of the NT teaching of salvation by grace alone through faith alone (Rom.

3:19,20) sustained forever (Rom.

8:31–39) [in other words it’s not when a physical baby is born, as Jesus told Nicodemus, we all must be born /again/ – spiritually regenerated by God’s Spirit].

Paul is teaching that even though a woman bears the stigma of being the initial instrument who led the race into sin, it is women through childbearing who may be preserved or freed from that stigma by raising a generation of godly children (cf.

5:10).

*in childbearing.*

Because mothers have a unique bond and intimacy with their children, and spend far more time with them than do fathers, they have far greater influence in their lives and thus a unique responsibility and opportunity for rearing godly children.

While a woman may have led the human race into sin, women have the privilege of leading many out of sin to godliness *… if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.*

The godly appearance, demeanor, and behavior commanded of believing women in the church (vv.

9–12) is motivated by the promise of deliverance from any inferior status and the joy of raising godly children.’