We return today with the theme of marriage and the family. It is a favorite of mine. Several of my book titles are related to marriage, to preparation for marriage, to life nurture, and to conclusion of one’s life in the context of family. This affirmation is drawn from belief that Scripture is written in the idiom of the family – that God is represented to the reader significantly in the terms of the family, and seen in the model of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mother). Every person is a member of a family even if that family is dead or dysfunctional. The image of God in the human race is partly seen in the family. There is oneness in the family as there is oneness in God. An analogy of God in mankind is found in a family of persons where love and care (service that is founded in love) is to be the commanded practice on a practical level. I may not be important in a world of seven billion persons (2012), but I can be meaningful to self and family. This theme has been detailed on other Pages in this series. No perception here, related to life, is to be understood apart from Christian Scripture. Scripture is interpreted from logic (in declared divine assumptions); in experience (in both personal and historical events); and, in consistent, comparative, contextual analysis in Scripture (providing its own best commentary and impression on conscience). The biblical model provides the best context for marriage and the family, but it also provides the analogy for Christ, the church and reality for life, natural and spiritual. (Ephesians 5) It is favored of God, who also respects the laws of mankind in trying to carry through the special meaning of the family concept for effective society. Scripture apparently recognizes any marriage between a male and female, even when the spiritual model is unknown or disregarded. Civil marriage is marriage in common grace to which the parties are to be responsible and faithful. The pattern includes commands in the Christian context.
What about those, single, who never marry? They are a part of their mother/father families. No one is left out. Even orphans have that inner yearning to know their biological or adoptive families, so to sense an unbroken cord. Those who have lost their families can adopt some other, if they are not adopted themselves, so to fulfill one of the practical means God has given to express part of human meaning and worth. When possible, one should be partly identified in the unit of a family so to perceive something of the family of humankind. We are constructed to think of ourselves as brothers/sisters, and so to serve each other, demonstrating love, wisdom, and the understanding of the image of God in us. God is our Father/Mother/Brother/Sister, and we his children, even if sometimes prodigal. If so, we ought to return. God was not, and is not, prodigal or absent from us. In a miracle event, we find the family story in Mary and Joseph, and the Babe of Bethlehem. We see the context in the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and their wives/children – followed by the judges, kings, prophets, even the vignettes of Ruth, of Esther, and others. Marriage and family harbor the secrets of common grace for fulfillment and meaning, making a practical method of operation for persons on earth under God. It is a pattern that we violate to our own peril, or follow with loving care to blessing and personal completion for earth. In the spirit of Christian family we perceive each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. For some eras the designations were used in addressing one another. The practice has been undermined by style changes.
Substituting for God’s model of marriage is not now illegal in America, but violation of the standard of God does impinge upon morality for the individual and society. At this writing, alternatives appear to offer uncertain cultural and personal consequences. Reduced family perceptions from the divine may be expected to reduce our relationship with God in failure to obedience for the meaning of life and relationships. For the Christian, marriage and family become a moral pattern of life, not only legal and personal. To amend the biblical model denies Scripture, and the history of the human race in best context. Perhaps, in some way, it would affect the understanding we do have of God, and the idioms/parables of Scripture. A church can provide better understanding of God through the family in biblical context. The loss of God’s definition for family will dilute/distort the analogies of Scripture for us. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020