Created for a purpose:
In Genesis, we learn that mankind (man and woman) were created to rule over the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:26). As image bearers of God, man and woman were created to rule and not be ruled by creation. By this means they were to keep the good order that God had created. This is God – man – and the rest of creation. They were to do this as a couple. God brought them together in the first marriage. Man, created first and given the role of leader and woman as the perfect and suitable helper and companion for the task of ruling the world and procreating for the future.
Genesis 2:18
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”
And so, God having created Eve such as she is a suitable complementary companion to Adam brings her to him in the first marriage:
Genesis 2:22
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Adam was obviously thrilled at the introduction to his bride Eve. He was totally in love with her, turned on by her, and completely committed to her – and God wanted it that way, because he had created them for that purpose. Now that’s romance – Garden of Eden style!
Look at Genesis 2:23
“The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
And as a couple, they were then given the command to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). Have sex and make babies. Procreation is a significant part of marriage. It is not the only purpose of marriage, but it is an important one. It is a sexual act.
Created sexual:
After the excitement of seeing each other comes sex between man and woman. The plans for this first marriage of Adam and Eve are clearly laid out in Genesis 2:24-25
“…That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
Here is the gift of sex in the context of a man and woman in a marriage relationship. A created goodness celebrated throughout the Bible. Timothy speaking of false teachings tells all things God created is good.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
But blessings from God come with a ‘handle with care’ notice. The goodness is there to be enjoyed in the purity of God’s designed purpose – that of marriage between a man and a woman.
Hebrews 4:4 “Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
If used in any other way than in the pattern God set, sex becomes a perverted idol rather than a good blessing.
We will delve a little deeper into the biblical context for marriage in our next post.
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