| July 26, 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 13
|
[Ed. Note: The following article is one chapter of the book, IS IT LAWFUL, published by Gary Fisher and Dennis Allan.--CRJ]
On the 5th day of creation, God made the birds and the creatures that live in the water. On the 6th day, He made the land animals and man, Gen. 1:20-28. Our text gives additional information, supplying details not mentioned in chapter 1.. After God made Adam, He brought before Adam the different land animals and birds He had recently created, and instructed Adam to name them as he saw fit.
Some individuals, reading Gen. 2:18-20 have incorrectly assumed that woman was created as an after-thought. This is not the case at all. Gen. 1:26-28 shows that God intended from the beginning for humans to populate the earth and exercise dominion over all other creatures. Most likely, God’s bringing before Adam all the other creatures was meant to impress upon him the vast distinction between himself and the other created beings, and to make him more aware of the importance and value of the companion God was about to make for him.
The method in which Adam’s wife came into existence caused Adam to recognize an inseparable relationship with her. Being made from a part of his own body, she was literally, physically bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. To have separated himself from her would have been to have put away a part of his very own self. The Hebrew word for man is ISH. The word for woman is ISHSHA, (the word for man, with a feminine ending). Similarly, the English word woman comes from the word man. Actually, the word “woman” comes from the Anglo-Saxon “wifman” or wife man.
The Holy Spirit reveals that the principle of “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” is to be applied in the marriage relationships in succeeding generations. Note the word “therefore.” “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Now let us look more closely at verse 24, examining it in order. (1) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother...” This statement is not a part of what Adam said, but what God Himself said, based on the truth Adam had recognized and stated. Jesus clearly taught that it was “He who made them” who said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh” (Matt. 19:4-5). In the first marriage, the husband and wife were physically of the same bone and flesh. God intends thereafter husbands and wives are to be as closely united as were Adam and Eve. The husband/wife relationship takes precedence over any and all other human relationships. Married men and women still have certain obligations and responsibilities to their parents, to care for their needs as circumstances may dictate, 1 Tim. 5:16. But we do need to recognize that the parent/child relationship is secondary to the husband/wife relationship. When I counsel couples about to marry, I advise them, “If you are not willing to put this person ahead of your father and mother in your affections, and love him (her) more than you love any other human being, do him (her) a favor, and don’t marry him (her). The commitment between husband and wife binds them together and in a sense separates them from all others.
(2) “...And be joined to his wife...” The major emphasis of the text is not the changing of the relationship with parents, but on establishing the even higher relationship with one’s spouse. Again, Jesus’ comment on this verse is helpful, that God Himself joins them together, Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:9. When God has joined a man and woman in marriage, there can be no voiding of the responsibilities and restrictions of that relationship unless the God who joined them has released them from those responsibilities and restrictions. “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:9; Matt. 19:6).
(3) “...And they shall become one flesh.” As Adam and Eve were made from one flesh to begin with, each husband and wife within a Scriptural marriage “become one flesh.” Other passages of Scripture, perhaps, will shed more light on this statement. The term “one flesh” involves, but is not limited to the sexual relationship that rightly exists within marriage. Gen. 2:25 says Adam and Eve “were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” At that point in time, they had committed no sin, and had nothing of which to be ashamed. Their sexual relationship was right and pure and holy. Somewhere, the idea has surfaced that the “forbidden fruit” of Eden was the sexual relationship. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning, God had said to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply : fill the earth...” (Gen. 1:28).
In the initial family relationship, God designed Eve to be a helper to Adam. The KJV’s expression, “an help meet for him” is often misunderstood and sometimes even mispronounced as if it said “help mate.” Eve was a help mate for Adam, but that is not what God was saying. He stated that He would make a helper who would be meet (an outmoded way of saying “suitable” or “comparable”) for him. Every man and woman, in seeking a mate for life, should seek to find a person who will be a help to them, and a suitable, appropriate companion to them. A marriage will be more harmonious if the husband and wife are suited to each other spiritually, socially, culturally, etc., sharing life’s goals, aspirations, joys and sorrows; working together to build an atmosphere in which they rear their children and fight the storms of life together. To the extent that they are not united, the relationship is threatened: “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:23).
Thus, Gen. 2:18-25 is the backbone of what God has to say about the marriage relationship. This is further underscored by the fact that this passage is quoted from no less than five times by later Biblical writers.
(1) MALACHI 2:15. During the time the Jews spent in Babylonian exile many divorced their Jewish wives and contracted marriages with heathen women contrary to God’s laws, Deut. 7:3; Ex. 34:14-16. These unlawful marriages caused their worship to be rejected. The prophet Malachi rebuked them for divorcing their lawful wives, reminding them, “She is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one...” Regarding their Scriptural marriages, God states that He hates divorce, verse 16. On the other hand, those marriages which were unlawful were to be dissolved, verses 11-16; Ezra, chapters 9 and 10.
(2) MATTHEW 19:4-6. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about the legality of divorce, they probably expected a dissertation on Deut. 24:1-4. Instead, Jesus went back to Gen. 1:27 and 2:24, and emphasized the original desire and purpose of God in the marriage relationship. Jesus emphasized that it was God Himself who said, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” The Lord also pointed out as Malachi did to his generation, that God Himself has “made them one.” “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” As the Pharisees continued to press Him about the matter of divorce, He did address that subject. But for our present purpose suffice it to say that Jesus had much rather have us seek ways to complement and enhance our Scriptural spouses, and have the oneness, unity, togetherness God intended, rather than have us seek to find methods and excuses for destroying that relationship. “What God has joined together, let not man separate.”
(3) MARK 10:6-8. This is Mark’s parallel account of the discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees, and adds nothing of significance other than to show that the same principles apply to men and women alike. God does not have one marriage law for men and a different law for women.
(4) EPHESIANS 5:30-31. When Paul sought to illustrate the kind of unity, fellowship and love that should exist between Christ and His church, he centered his attention on the marriage relationship as God intended it to be. As Christians, we are members of Christ’s body, verse 30. If we do harm to the body of Christ, we are harming ourselves. The same is true of the husband and wife in a marriage relationship. A man cannot hate his wife without being himself a recipient of that action. He cannot properly love his wife without he himself benefiting from that love. Their lives, needs, goals, etc., are so intertwined that, as Jesus said, “The are no longer two, but one flesh” (Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:8). And even though Paul’s primary lesson in Eph. 5:22-23 deals with the relationship between Christ and His church, he also underscores, “Nevertheless let each of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (verse 33).
(5) I CORINTHIANS 6:16. “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘The two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’” Of course, Paul is not saying that God sanctions an act of fornication, or joins the fornicators together as husband and wife. He is simply pointing out that when a man goes in to a harlot, he becomes a partaker of the same fornication of which she is guilty. He has accepted for himself her moral standard. He shares her values, and in that sense, has become “one” with her.
And so we see that “from the beginning” to the present time, from ancient Eden to modern America, and from Adam to the end of the ages, God’s basic desires and purposes for the marriage relationship have not changed. As His words once rang out in the garden of Eden, they still chime clear in the new Testament Scriptures: “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matt. 19:4-6).
--CRJ
In Matt. 5:7, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Of the beatitudes we have studied so far, this is the one that is least shocking to the human mind. It jolts us to hear that the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry and thirsty, are to be considered blessed; that the meek shall inherit the earth, etc. But finally, we come to a beatitude that makes complete sense to all of us -- “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
But if this beatitude makes sense to us, it does far more. It places great responsibility upon us. As sinners, we frequently need to pray with the custom’s agent of Luke 18, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And yet, in the light of this beatitude, we have no right to seek mercy unless we dispense mercy to others. The parable of the unforgiving servant in Matt. 18 and the Lord’s model prayer in Matt. 6, teach the same lesson.
This beatitude should bring to mind our hasty judgments, criticisms, our uncaring moments, lest we forget to be merciful.
So, what attribute do we seek when we seek to be merciful? To be merciful is to possess a forgiving spirit. It is to feel pity and compassion for others who are in trouble or need. It is to have Christ’s way of looking at others. It is to love as He has loved, to manifest true kindness.
And how do we promote this attribute in our hearts? First, by remembering our own need of mercy. Second by putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes and identifying with his needs. Last, but not least by drawing nearer to Christ by studyi9ng and obeying His will.
And what promise does Christ hold out to the merciful? “They shall obtain mercy.” Like the other beatitudes we studied, this promise finds its initial fulfillment in the here and now. The attitude of others toward us depends largely upon our attitude toward them. By being merciful in our dealings with others, we promote that attitude in others toward us.
But, especially, Jesus is looking to our relationship with God. To procure the forgiveness of our sins in this life -- and eternal life in the world to come, Mark 10:30 -- we must learn to be merciful to those with whom we deal.
--CRJ