BIBLICAL ORDER IN MARRIAGE: THE TWO BECOMING ONE FLESH pt 3
Recently I presented a paper in my DMin class on what the
Bible teaches about order in the marriage partnership. This paper sought to define terms, exposit
pertinent scriptures, and provide practical application. It also sought to make
the reader aware of how some well intended Christian teachers have complicated
the issue. Thus, in a hopes that what I
have found and written will benefit you,I am presenting this paper over the
next several posts. Should you have
questions or comments, you may send them to Perseveringpastor@gmail.com.
While Genesis 2 gives us a keen
insight as to how life is supposed to be in its natural state, Genesis 3 shares
with us the roots and effects of sin corrupting everything we have ever
known. “The West’s Judeo-Christian
heritage and foundation have largely been supplanted by a libertarian ideology
that elevates human freedom and self-determination as the supreme principals
for human relationships.”[i]
This is precisely what we find when Eve chooses to take the fruit and eat: that
she herself would become independent from God. “The fall witnesses a complete
reversal of the roles assigned by God to the man and the woman.”[ii]
After
the fall, and as a result of the fall Adam, tries to hide from God only to hear
Him calling. It can be understood by the
dialog of Genesis 3 that God held Adam responsible for his wife’s failure to
comply with God’s explicit desires.
Adam, in shifting blame from himself to the more authoritative party
blames God for the woman he was given.
Had Eve been the head of the household, Adam would have simply blamed
her. As it stands and the language
insinuates, Adam blames God for giving him an insubordinate helper. Adam dismisses culpability by blaming Eve and
God; in his eyes he is just the man caught in the middle. Yet Adam’s excuses are not valid. “Thus the man, by his absence, or
acquiescence shares in the woman’s culpability; and she, by failing to consult
with her God-given protector and provider, fails to respect the divine pattern
of marriage.”[iii]
Sin resulted in
the order of the home being challenged.
This is counterpart to Satan’s challenge to Eve regarding the order that
God has created in both the world and in marriage. We read in Genesis 3 how Satan is cursed, and
that God would redeem not only man but creation through His Son. Though Satan tried to destroy Eve, she would
in turn, by seed, see that One would be born who would restore God’s order.
Childbirth for Eve
and all women would become much more difficult.
This is possibly an indication that raising children would become more
complicated by this disorder. She also
would reap the effects of disrupting the order of the home as seen in the
statement; “Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you.”(Gen 3:16) No longer would this
marriage be a tidy complementary union; it now would face the adversity of
competing wills.
For Adam, his
ability to provide and protect were now made much more difficult. Work is a good thing, and was a part of
pre-fall man. But now thorns, thistles,
and rocks would be the bane of his existence.
His labor would one day be rewarded with death.
For both Adam and
Eve, the fall took what was once a joyful existence and perverted it to a
punishment that only returning to God through a Savior could relieve.
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