The Image of God in man and woman

Genesis 1:27 (CSB)

27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

Why did God choose to make these two distinctive image bearers?

Genesis 2:15–25 CSB

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. 24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Ephesians 5:31–33 (CSB)

31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

The most important purpose of the husband and wife relationship is to represent the relationship between Christ and His church.

It is not to make you happy!

We should never choose a relationship based on how happy that person makes us but rather the ability of that relationship to reflect Christ.

The marriage relationship offers opportunities to become more like Christ that no other relationship offers. It is unique and should be held in honor.

This is God’s design for marriage:

A covenant relationship between one man and one woman with the purpose of magnifying the image of God in us and representing the relationship of Christ and His church.

What if we choose to not follow God’s design?

Hebrews 13:4 (CSB)

4 Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Sexual Immorality is any act which steps outside of God’s original design for the relationship between man and woman.

Matthew 5:28 (CSB)

28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Why is this particular sin such a big deal?

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 (CSB)

18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 (CSB)

3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.

We do not find the power to overcome this sin on our own, it is the Spirit of God in us that enables us to overcome temptation and act in accordance with God’s original design.

2 Peter 1:3–8 (CSB)

3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.