07.09. The Origin of Marriage and Family

The Origin of Marriage and Family Genesis 1:27-28 ; Genesis 2:18 ; Genesis 2:20-24

    Perhaps the most relevant topic we can discuss today is the family. Today in our school there are books with title much like "Timmy has two daddies" or "Susie two moms" that are blurring the lines of what has been called a, "traditional" family.

But then again we must ask who is it that gets to decide that two men cannot make up a family. There has been much to-do about homosexual marriages. Why are they wrong? Who get to decide. Is it you and I or is it the society or culture. Or perhaps it is men who get to decide for themselves. Today we are going back into the book of Genesis to see that God created the institution of the family prior to giving men government or prior to giving men the church. I submit to you that the family is the first line of defense against all that is ungodly. This is why the family is ground zero in the spiritual warfare and in the crosshairs of the enemy marked for destruction if possible.

I- God Created Them Male and Female:

We see the origin of the first family in the very days of creation. Notice Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." The first thing we notice is God didn’t create only one being but two. One was created from the other but they were alike but different at the same time. By the way one of the greatest problem evolution has the origin of the sexes. After all reproduction is only possible for two that are totally compatible. This means that the male and female had to evolve at the same time and same rate always totally compatible. By the way this flies in the face of homosexuality that wants two men or two women to be normal. Notice the task give to Adam and Eve, Genesis 1:28 "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…"

    We turn to Genesis 2:1-25 for some additional insight into the first family. Genesis 2:18, Genesis 2:20-24 "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him….20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

    God brought the woman and the man he created together and united them as husband and wife. Jesus speaking concerning the question of divorce in Matthew 19:4-6 said, "… Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

    And God created them male and female. Not Eve and Ava nor Adam and Steve.

II- Old Testament Speaks Against Homosexual Lifestyle:

    The biggest question that faces the family today is the definition of a family. Is it one man and one woman or could it be two men, often called domestic partners, who are a family. Lets look at what the Bible says about the homosexual lifestyle.

    Leviticus 18:22-23 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. ²³ Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion."

    ABOMINATION= OT:8441 tow` ebah (to-ay-baw’); or to` ebah (to-ay-baw’); feminine active participle of OT:8581; properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol:

KJV - abominable (custom, thing), abomination.

(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.) III- New Testament Speaks Against Homosexual Lifestyle:

    Romans 1:25-28 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. ²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: ²⁷ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. ²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…"

    Beloved it cannot be any plainer than this. God is against this lifestyle that is being held up and normal and right and acceptable.

IV- So Who Gets to Decide:

Beloved if every man on earth would agree that certain behavior is right but the Bible says it is wrong then there can be no doubt that it will be wrong. God is the only one who can decide wrong from right. After all in the jungles society says it is all right to be a headhunter. Perhaps we have given the wrong impression that it is only homosexuality that God is displeased with. Lets again return to Lev 18 and see it is other acts as well. Leviticus 18:1-30 gives prohibitions against a great deal of immoral behavior. Leviticus 18:6-20 gives a list of inappropriate acts. (Please read these because they are plain and blunt.) Let us notice one thought if you will. Leviticus 18:20 "Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her."

Beloved it was not men that came up with the concept of marriage it was God. One of the Ten Commandments says thou shalt not commit adultery.

Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

V- Purpose of the Family:

1- For the procreation of the species. It is nothing today to see a sitcom that portrays it as right for a child to be born outside of wedlock. Don’t get the wrong impression God does not hate the child but the ideal way that God created was for a man and his wife to have children in a family unit. Today there are a small percentage of families made up of one man and one woman with their children. Today we have many so called blended families that are not blended at all simply stirred up.

2- For the raising of Children. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Within this is certainly the function of passing along the faith.

3- For changing the world. Psalms 127:4 "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth."