This Week's Topic: Homosexuality and Gay Marriage
The Image of God Part 2
"ever since the world was created, people . . . . Through everything God made . . . . can clearly see his invisible qualities—his . . . . divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” Romans 1:20 (NLT)
“God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply”
Genesis 1:28 (NIV)
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” Genesis 2:24 (NIV)
The Image of God is Procreative
1. Male and Female were created to become one
2. Part of this oneness is procreation.
3. Oneness is comprehensive: Mind, body, spirit, soul, future, emotions, the whole ball of wax. Although I am not a complete image of God, not least because of my sin, but also because I am only one sex, nevertheless the organs of my body (lung, heart, etc) coordinate to give me life. Yet there is one area in which I am organically incomplete, the area of reproduction. For that I need the rest of the image of God, a woman.
4. This comprehensive, procreative oneness of man and woman is called marriage.
5. The inability of a man and woman to conceive in marriage only serves to make the point. "The exception proves the rule”
6. We have in the marriage of a man and woman oneness in plurality, just as we saw in Genesis 1:26. Marriage is a picture of the image of God. We could even make a formula: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 . . . Father + Son + HS = God . . . . Man + Woman + God (a Christian Marriage) = a Trinitarian Image of God.
7. Just God’s Plurality in Oneness resulted in creation, so also the plurality and oneness of marriage results in a creation.
When we read the rest of the Bible we see marriage throughout as the dominant picture of God’s character, what he is doing on earth, and who He is.
That put a big responsibility on married Christians to live our marriages out well, does it not?
Prayer
“Lord, it seems that marriage is in a very large sense, sacramental. Forgive me for treating it as less than it is. Amen."
I must assume that "5.The inability of a man and woman to conceive in marriage only serves to make the point." means that "5.The inability of a man and woman to INDEPENDENTLY conceive in marriage only serves to make the point." or it means that "5.The inability of a man and a man or of a woman and a woman to conceive in marriage only serves to make the point."
ReplyDeleteI am confused by #5. On the face of it, this seems to refer to a married couple who are unable to conceive. I don't understand how that exception "proves the rule". Combined with the fact that unmarried couples can conceive (not to say this is a good thing), this point seems to disprove the rule.
ReplyDeleteCertainly procreation is one of the things God accomplishes through marriage, but it doesn't really seem to be something He expects to come out of all marriages. Therefore, perhaps not a justification for the argument that marriage must be uniquely man and woman.
Bob R.