Since the icy weather derailed our Midweek Winter Series this week, I thought that I would share with you a few more highlights from our first session. We started with a close look at Genesis 1:26-31, focusing on the nature of our “first parents” as we see that nature revealed in God’s original design. We made multiple observations from the text, and we landed on four key truths which will serve us well for the remainder of the series …
1. Adam, the original human being, was created in the image of God. This makes humankind a unique species.
2. Sexual distinction (difference) is undeniable.
3. The maleness and femaleness enable us to produce new image bearers: bearing the likeness of the parents and the likeness of God. Thus, the unique identity which marks humanity is passed down to successive generations.
4. Human beings are granted a positional and vocational honor expressed in their unique authority on the earth. This reflects the ultimate rule of God.
After briefly touching on what theologians often refer to as God’s “creation mandate” (what Adam and Eve, as well as their posterity, were commissioned by God to do), we turned a page and looked closely at Genesis 2:18-25. We asked ourselves some questions: What further insights into human nature do we gain by the nuanced Creation account of the Bible’s second chapter? What additional light is shed? What would Adam have noticed as he named all the animals, and how would this have contributed to his profound appreciation for – and intense delight in – Eve? Why was it important for our first parents to be “naked and unashamed”? (By the way, we’ll deal specifically with the problem of shame later in this series.)
Here were some of our primary takeaways after considering Chapter 2 …
1. More light is shed on maleness and femaleness. When it comes to “being fruitful” and “exercising dominion,” both sexes participate in both tasks – but not in exactly the same ways. The distinctions are necessary, and reflective of the nature of God.
2. There is every indication in the text that God loves both Adam and Eve – He cares for and provides for them both – but He does not create them in the exact same way. Built into the first “not good” in the Bible is the need for a complementarity of relationship which marriage will provide.
3. The marriage bond is intended to supersede other human relationships, and to be inviolable.
4. The marital love and commitment will be celebrated in sexual intercourse, surely including a transparency with each other and a vulnerability to each other. (The rest of Scripture will shed further light on this.)
5. Though they need each other, both Eve and Adam have a higher need for God Himself.
6. These foundations reflect not only the character of God, and our relationship to Him, but they are the very underpinning of human civilization – and human flourishing.
Speaking of human flourishing, that’s what this series is all about! We have no desire to point our fingers at others and shame them for not living up to God’s perfect standards. Rather, we – deeply aware of our own need for a Savior – want to share with our fellow image bearers the way of Jesus. We believe that His way is the way that will lead to their ultimate satisfaction and joy. So we seek to be humble proclaimers of life, light, and love. We are but dust. Christ is everything.
I look forward to seeing all of you for Session 2 on Wednesday, February 8 at 5:30 p.m. Don’t forget that dinner and childcare are included.
Pastor Charles
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