“Traditional Marriage”
(Genesis 2:18-25)
Series: Hot-Button Issues
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson KY
(3-11-07) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to Genesis, chapter 2.
Last week we began a brief 4-part sermon series for the month of March entitled “Hot-Button Issues.” We’re looking at cultural and ethical issues facing the church that can be viewed as controversial topics by those outside the church. Last Sunday we were in the book of Proverbs and we looked at “Abortion and the Case for Life.” And I appreciate the way so many of you personally encouraged me for bringing that message, including women on two different occasions, after the 8:40 service and after the 10:15 service, who shared that they had been one of the statistics of those who had had an abortion but had found grace and forgiveness through the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now today we are looking at another topic that can prove somewhat controversial outside of the evangelical church. This morning I am bringing a message entitled, “Traditional Marriage.” Our text comes from what is the foundational passage of Scripture for everything else we read in the Bible about marriage. Whatever else we may read in the Old and New Testament about marriage is based on what we read in Genesis 2. In fact, when Jesus speaks on the matter of marriage, you will find Him quoting from this passage this morning. We are reading about God’s creative work. He is creating the sun, moon, stars, trees, animals, and even man, whose name is Adam, but God is not through creating yet.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- Pray.
Introduction:
Two and a half years ago Kentucky citizens voted on an amendment to our state constitution that clearly defined what we can call “traditional marriage.” The amendment, popularly known as the “Marriage Protection Amendment,” was approved with an overwhelming 75% majority of voters. The amendment states:
“Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.”
I shared with many of you a couple Wednesday evenings ago that at least two of our major universities, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kentucky, are trying to work around the second part of that constitutional amendment by ostensibly re-defining marriage in a way that grants marriage benefits to unmarried partners. The “Work-Life Committee” for the University of Kentucky estimates that as many as 272 of their employees will take advantage of these benefits with as many as 68 employees being same-sex partners.
The Family Foundation is encouraging you to make a call to your House representative, David Watkins, urging him to vote for the proposed bill that will stop universities from re-defining marriage. I happen to agree with the Family Foundation on this one and shared with many of you a couple weeks ago that I had made my phone call. Whether you make a call is certainly up to you, but one thing is unmistakably clear: even with an unambiguous amendment to our state’s constitution, for many the definition of marriage remains elusive. What is marriage? Check out this video clip.
** Video Clip: “What is Marriage?” [1 minute]
That clip reminds me of the pastor who went to speak to a group of fourth graders and he asked, “Do any of you know what God has to say about marriage?” A little boy immediately raised his hand. The pastor said, “All right, tell us what does God have to say about marriage?” The little boy said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
What is marriage? Well, “traditional marriage” is as old as creation itself. And so we’re going to talk about what the Bible teaches about traditional marriage. There are several things for us to consider from Genesis, chapter 2. Number one, let’s consider:
I. The Intended Purpose of Marriage (18-20)
18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Underline the phrase “helper comparable to him.” You see it there in verse 18 and again in verse 20. It is a phrase that refers to the woman that God creates for the man. It may be better translated, “a helper suited to him,” or “a helper alongside him.” And you ladies will love this: the word translated “helper” is the same Hebrew word used to describe God’s coming to help His people. That puts the ladies in pretty good company, wouldn’t you say?
So there is a sense that the man is incomplete without the woman. That seems truth seems to be stressed by the context. Look at verse 19:
19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
Adam’s naming each animal signifies man’s rule over the animal kingdom. Now verse 20:
20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
So we have Adam naming all the animals, but we read “there was not found a helper comparable to him.” That is, of all creation passing before Adam, there was no one like himself. There was no one suited to come alongside him. There was no one to meet his insufficiency. There was no one to “complete” him. And so, we’ll read in the next few verses that God creates woman to be that very one to come to his help, to be alongside him, to “complete” him.
Someone said, “Man is incomplete until he’s married, then he’s really finished!” I was at a Sunday school fellowship last night and a member of the class asked a philosophical question. He asked, “If a man speaks in the forest and his wife isn’t there to hear him—is he still wrong?” Interesting question!
But this is the intended purpose of marriage: God creates a man and a woman for the purpose of companionship, for the purpose of completion, two people, walking side by side. This is the intended purpose of marriage. Secondly, let’s consider:
II. The Intended Partners of Marriage (21-23)
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
There is great theological and physiological teaching here. Man is created out of the dust of the earth, but the woman is created from man. So, woman is always one step removed from man and man is always just one step removed from dirt! But that’s not the theological instruction I had in mind to teach. Rather, think of what God is doing here in creating the woman from the man.
Our English words “man” and “woman” are very similar to the Hebrew words for man and woman. What I mean is in Hebrew the word for man is “ish” and the Hebrew word for woman is “ishah.” And the point is that the one comes from the other. The word “ish” is part of the word “ishah” and the word “man” is part of the word “woman.” They were created for one another.
The Genesis passage teaches that the intended partners of marriage are to be one man and one woman. The woman was created for the man; the woman was created to complete him.
The Bible nowhere teaches that God’s intended partners for marriage are to be two persons of the same sex. Nowhere.
We will not spend a great deal of time looking up various passages of Scripture the condemn homosexuality. Most of you know them. Leviticus 18:22, for example, refers to homosexuality as an “abomination” before God; the Hebrew word translated “abomination” being the strongest word scripture uses to describe something that God detests.
Romans 1:26-28 is another text that couldn’t be any clearer in describing the sin of homosexuality. Just jot down those two references. There are many more, but those two will do for now; Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:26-28.
And Jesus, of course, nowhere commends nor endorses homosexual unions. In fact, when answering specific questions about marriage, Jesus goes back to this chapter, Genesis chapter 2, as the framework for understanding traditional marriage. He quotes some of these very verses. He never “corrects the record” by telling us that marriage should be defined in any other way. Truth is, for the honest biblical inquirer, the Bible is very clear that homosexuality is a sin.
But let’s be quick to add that like any other sin, the sin of homosexuality can be forgiven by our loving God through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
I particularly like verse 11 there: “and such were some of you.” Just as Paul can look at the church at Corinth and see the evidence of God’s grace, so can we look out at the church at First Baptist Henderson and see the evidence of God’s grace. We look out at this congregation and what do we see? We see people who used to be fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals thieves, drunkards, and so forth. Such were some of us. But we’ve been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We are changed. Those past sins no longer characterize our behavior. We are not perfect, but because of our position in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are improving over time.
Before we move on, look again at verse 23:
23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
Whenever you read verse 23, read it with the excitement that Adam had in his voice! Remember, he was incomplete without Eve. God crafts from Adam’s own flesh a beautiful woman and Adam’s pretty fired-up about it! I really think the word “whoopee!” is missing from the first part of Adam’s response. I mean he wakes up and there is a beautiful woman next to him. His response connotes joy and excitement.
Someone said the reason this first marriage worked so well was because there were no in-laws! I don’t know about that, but I know that there is joy in marriage. Our motivation for marriage is that we are seeking loving theological and physiological completion in our mate.
Some people marry for the wrong reason. Like that man who was getting the cold shoulder from his wife for a few weeks. He finally confronted his wife and said, “Admit it Mary, the only reason you married me is because my grandfather left me $10 million dollars. She said, “Don’t be ridiculous—I don’t care who left it to you.”
The intended purpose of marriage: completion and companionship; the intended partners of marriage: one man and one woman. Thirdly, let’s consider:
III. The Intended Permanency of Marriage (24-25)
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
That last verse, verse 25, reminds us that this first institution was created before the Fall, before sin entered into the world. When sin entered into the picture, traditional marriage began to unravel and we are continuing to deal with the fallout thousands of years later.
But look again at verse 24 which teaches God’s intended permanency of marriage. The Bible says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
There’s an awful lot of application in verse 24. For example, verse 24 stresses the commitment that the man and woman are to have for one another. The man and woman leave their parents and unite to one another, becoming one flesh. There is a commitment to one another in marriage. The idea of commitment is lost upon our contemporary American culture of increasing numbers of people simply living together with no marital commitment whatsoever.
The biblical word “fornication” that accompanies other sins in the list we read earlier in 1 Corinthians 6:9, is a word that refers to any kind of sex outside of marriage. Sex outside of marriage is wrong, pure and simple. I am proud of several of our newer youth who pledged last Sunday night to abstain from sex until marriage. It’s the campaign called “True Love Waits.” True love waits for marriage. You’ll see several of our youth wearing a little gold band on their finger. That’s a symbolic reminder that true love waits. Sex outside of marriage is wrong.
And that goes not only for fornication, but adultery—sexual relations with someone other than one’s spouse. Again, verse 24 says, “and they shall become one flesh.” The physiological teaching of one flesh means just that: one flesh. Husbands and wives intimately unite together only with one another for the purpose of sharing in God’s creative work, procreating for God’s glory.
And the stress here is on God’s intended permanency of marriage. The word “joined” there connotes the idea of so sticking together as to become inseparable. A loose paraphrase would be something like, “A husband and wife are go be glued-together.”
Divorce is not God’s ideal for marriage. Unfortunately, however, it does happen. Most of us in this room have been affected some way or another by divorce. My parents divorced. My wife’s parents divorced. My two siblings are divorced. Many of you are divorced or divorce has touched your family in some way or another.
And while I believe there are at least two biblical exceptions for divorce; namely sexual unfaithfulness of a spouse, or desertion of a spouse because of the other’s commitment to Christ, the majority of divorces in our country are unbiblical divorces. So what are we to do? Again, we remember that God’s forgiveness of sin becomes operable at the point of our confession and repentance. We must turn from our sin and turn to the Savior.
- Stand for prayer.
With heads bowed and eyes closed, let me lead you in a worshipful invitation. First, in light of God’s intended partners for marriage, how do you regard homosexuals? Specifically, what are you doing to share with them the love and grace of God? Does brandishing a sign or putting a bumper sticker on your car that reads, “God hates fags” going to win anyone into the kingdom? Seriously, do you look at those who are not living according to the Bible as those most in need of the love of God or with a judgmental spirit of condemnation? Ask God to help you demonstrate the power of the Gospel by sharing the truth in love.
If you’re here this morning and you feel the conviction of God’s word upon your soul, whether you identify with the sin of homosexuality, fornication, unbiblical divorce, adultery (both physically as well as mentally), or some other sin, I invite you to receive the truth of the words of an old Puritan who said, “God is a better Savior than you are a sinner.”
Come to Christ this morning. Turn to Jesus and be saved.
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