The Theology of Marriage
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Genesis
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
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.
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;
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
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.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
I. The Two Correspond to One Another (Vs. 18)
I. The Two Correspond to One Another (Vs. 18)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
When the Lord had finished HIs creative process, He looked over all of His creation and said that it is not good that man should be left alone.
The Lord (Jehovah) said that it is not a good thing that man should be lonely.
All of the other parts of God’s creation had a partner, except for the crowning jewel of His creation, man.
So HE said that it is not a good thing that man should be left alone.
I like this Hebrew word for “alone” here, it is the word “בַּד” (baad) and it carries of idea of “part, member, limb”. IT also means “alone”.
But I see something here that the Lord was saying by the use of the Hebrew that He chose to us.
I find it interesting that that Hebrew word means “part, member, limb”, I believe what God is saying is something deeper than just that Adam was alone, I believe what God is saying is that man, without his wife, is incomplete.
Just like you would be incomplete if you were missing a limb, a man without his wife is incomplete.
And I find it interesting that this proclamation from God came right after verse 17.
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
It very well could be that the Lord knew that Adam was going to need someone to help him with his walk with the Lord.
By this time, Satan had fallen from heaven, probably, and God knew that he would be coming to attempt to destroy the beauty of God’s creation, so God said, “Adam is going to need some back-up, this present situation isn’t good”.
So the Lord says....I will make him a helper, a support.
Adam is going to need help, I will make someone for him that is going to support him, that is going to bring security or aid.
The wife’s primary role in creation was not for procreation, but was for support, for security; she was to assist Adam.
The the Lord says that aid, that security, that helper is going to be “suitable for him”.
“Suitable” is a word that means “in front of”.
The LORD said that I am going to make a helper for Adam and that help is going to be “like what is in front of Him”, this shows that there was a correspondence between the man and the woman.
Adam and Eve, irregardless of the differences in Gender, share the sameness as a person..they both are image bearers of God.
God gave to Adam exactly what he needed.
He gave him someone, not who different and had no idea of the needs of the man, but someone with the sameness as him so that she would know exactly what he needed.
A marriage that is a successful marriage and a good theology of marriage realizes that the two Correspond to one another, they are what each other needs.
II. The Two Care for One Another (vs. 21-22)
II. The Two Care for One Another (vs. 21-22)
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
The care that should exist between a husband and wife is embedded in the fact that Eve was made from a part of her husband.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
She was not a separate creative work that was wrought from another matter, say the dirt just like Adam, but she was made from Adam.
God performed, not only the first creative work to make man, but also the first surgery to give to Adam something just like him to secure and help him.
And because the woman is made from the side of the man, there is a natural, beautiful care unlike, I believe, any other human relationship.
The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (3) The Man’s Companion, the First Woman (2:18–25)
God creates the man first and derives the woman from the man to insure that she is his equal in substance and to maintain the unity of the human family.
The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (3) The Man’s Companion, the First Woman (2:18–25)
She is not of the order of the animals over whom the man is to dominate (see 2:23 discussion); she will share in the responsibility of dominating the created order (1:26–28). The fact that the man is expressing his rule over the animal world in the search for an appropriate helper caused him to realize his inadequacy to the task if he continues in the impotent condition of “alone.” In this way God is preparing the man to value his mate. Just as the man was uniquely made, receiving from God the divine inbreathing of life, the woman’s creation in the narrative was unique. Both the man and the woman are mysteriously made by the hands of God.
The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (3) The Man’s Companion, the First Woman (2:18–25)
The woman was taken from the man’s side to show that she was of the same substance as the man and to underscore the unity of the human family, having one source.
III. The Two Complete One Another (vs. 23)
III. The Two Complete One Another (vs. 23)
The man 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.”
When God brings Eve to Adam, he responds with a shout of affirmation that we are make from the same “stuff”.
It was almost as if Adam was saying, “At last, here is one of my own kind”.
Adam found delight in this new creation, that is part of him.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.
When Adam speaks of “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”, he is talking about family unity; we are the same.
IV. The Two Cleave to One Another (vs. 24)
IV. The Two Cleave to One Another (vs. 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.
KJV Bible Commentary A. The Creation. 1:1–2:25
The creation of Adam and Eve teaches us much about the marriage relationship: (1) Marriage was instituted by God (vss. 22–24), not by man, thus God’s Word must give us the proper guidelines; (2) marriage was, and is to be, monogamous; God gave Adam only one wife; (3) marriage is to be heterosexual; homosexuality does not have a case in the light of biblical revelation; (4) the husband and wife are to be unified physically and spiritually. The man is to leave his father and his mother. This would normally imply leaving them physically and emotionally to become, literally, “glued to his wife.” This implies the permanency of marriage
So, how do you have a good marriage, one that will last 50 years?
Realize and practice that in marriage the Two Correspond to One Another, The Two Care for one another, The Two Complete One Another and the Two Cleave to One Another.