2005-03-05 - My Personal Theology of Marriage & Family

Jesus said in (Matthew 19:4-6, 8) God made them male and female and that the two will become one flesh, and that what God joined together, no man should separate.

Moses allowed divorce in the Old Testament because of the hardness of hearts. However, this is not God's plan for Marriage and Family. It's also important to note here that God establishes the marriage relationship, and that He is a part of that relationship.

(Matthew 19:4-6, 8) "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning God made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.'" ⁸ Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning."

Christ shows us about loving, obeying and being a servant to one another - and God shows us about exalting one another in love in Philippians 2:8-9.

(Philippians 2:8-9) "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name."

God publicly verbalized his love for His Son to all men in (Matthew 3:17), as Jesus arose out of the water and God declared "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In this, God demonstrates the character that he tells husbands to have for their wives.

Ephesians 5:25 says that the "Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave up his life for her." The scripture reveals that the husband and the wife are both to love, cherish, and value one another. I believe God wants us to proclaim our love publicly proclaim to each other. This is done in touch, words, emotions, actions, character and comes from the value we place on each other. The question to ask yourself is this: "Am I esteeming my spouse more highly than I esteem myself? Or am I putting my spouse down?"

I want to encourage you to stop today and look at things you do. Today some men will go so far as to publicly acknowledge to a woman their love for them and ask for their hand in marriage by using skywriting. Through out the Old Testament, in the relationship between God and Israel, God showed Himself to be faithful to his covenant promises (Genesis 12:2.) This gives us the example of being faithful to our spouse in everything, including our vows of marriage, and to our family.

(Genesis 3:16b) "Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you."

God made man to be the head of the woman, and told her that her desire would be for her husband. God wants wives to submit to their husbands as the Lord, (Ephesians 5:22) "Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord." This is to say submit to your husband, as Christ submitted to and served God in love, and was obedient even to death on a cross.

God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). This brought about new members and relationships of ever-expanding families, with new and more complex problems. God gave His guidance to parents in raising a family. God told the father not to provoke his children to wrath (Ephesians 6:4). His love for His Son is an example of how parents should love their children, and how children should be obedient to love their parents. Instruction is given to train your child in the way that he should go, so that he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

He told us to live by the Spirit, so that we do not fulfill the lust of the flesh as described in Galatians 5:16-22. Our character should reflect that of the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-discipline. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39 that we are to love God and our neighbor, as we love our self. This neighbor is all-inclusive of your family members.

This is the foundation for my theology of Marriage and Family; it is a reflection of God himself.

God Bless You,
Rob

rob@cfdevotionals.org
I want my life to be for the glory of God
http://www.cfdevotionals.org