Title: God's Will for Marriage
Contents
Genesis 2:18-25
Today, I think about God's will for marriage. I hope it will be a time for unmarried young people to have their thoughts about marriage built on this biblical basis. Now, I hope that it will be a time for those who are married to re-examine their marriage based on the Bible. As I wrote in today's column, old thoughts seep into us without realizing it, and concepts that are not biblical roots are deep within us.
The Bible is not a group hierarchy. Confucianism is a very strict hierarchy. The king, master, father, and all members of the military do this without questioning what the superiors say and do. So, in the family, the husband and the father exercise great authority. In such a hierarchy and authority structure, it is virtually difficult to have a genuine conversation. So we don't have a good discussion.
When a subordinate comes in with logic, the superior is already offended, and he starts yelling at him, raising his eyes recklessly in front of an adult? It goes like this. That is why, especially in our religious life, when the Confucian concept within us is in line with the Bible, we have to have it, and when it is contrary to the Bible, we need to cultivate our own conception. The same goes for thinking about marriage.
Two meanings of a helping partner
Let's get into today's text. The word that appears twice in verses 18 and 20 is a helper. Herein lies the most essential biblical meaning of marriage. A helping partner means a helper who suits you best, or a co-worker who is balanced and beautiful without leaning in the slightest.
If you dress up and wear it very well, wow, you look great! It's like this. Instead of saying that young people these days are cool, in one word, it's perfect! Says: It's cool, it's perfect! What is all this? It suits them very well, the body shape and the clothes match nicely without having to play separately. This is the part that God cares most about in marriage. When you make a man and a woman, he makes them very compatible.
But what's the larger context for marriage today? It is entering into the rest of God. We are examining the will of God who created the earth. The goal of creation is God's rest, and the flower of creation is God's family. God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day, he rested and blessed that day as a special holy day.
The meaning of this seventh day is an invitation to all creatures to come into my rest and to all of us toward God's rest. If anyone asks who received this invitation, Adam receives it. So, if you look at important documents, you will see the sending and receiving, and those who are eligible for this invitation by referring to them. The receiver is Adam, and the reference is all creation.
First, the first condition to meet a helping partner must be personal union. (2:18-20)
The minimum necessary condition for marriage is personal union. Personality refers to an independent being who thinks, feels, and decides. This personality is originally possessed only by God. But people have this. This is about the 'image of God'. Because, the context in which God is trying to give Adam a helper right now is not to satisfy Adam's emotions or Adam's greed.
Adam now has a tremendous responsibility from God. The 7th day, God's rest, is the mission to rule and protect all creation. The context of who is the most appropriate partner in fulfilling this mission. A very interesting text is verses 18-19. In verse 18, God judges it not good for Adam to be alone. What I tried to do when I said that I would provide a helper for him is verse 19. If you look closely, what is the material Jehovah God uses to make all kinds of wild animals and all kinds of birds of the air? Soil. Jehovah God made animals out of dust.
In 2:6, when the Lord God made man, he also made man out of dust. Humans and animals are made of the same material. Just what difference does it make? When making animals, God does not put the image of God in them. When he created man, he puts the image of God into us. In 2:7, after God made man out of dust, he breathed life into his nostrils. This is the soul. The fundamental difference between animals and humans lies in the image of God, and that image of God refers to the soul.
There is a personal faculty in the soul, and there is a designation to think, feel and decide. Ladies and gentlemen, the biblical basis on which believers in Jesus cannot claim the theory of evolution is the difference in the soul, which is unique to humans and never to animals. Animals do not have the ability to communicate with God. Monkeys and humans both say that they are mammals, but monkeys have no soul. I don't have the ability to think. There is no emotion of deep frustration and leaping joy.
There is only instinct. Above all, animals do not have the ability to voluntarily decide and take responsibility for the results of well-judgment and analysis. Only humans have this. If animals are well nurtured, trained, and educated, there must be at least one case in the history of mankind or in the world where people have achieved something through hard work, and then there will be a basis for acknowledging the theory of evolution.
But now, what was God trying to do with Adam in verse 19? He brought all kinds of animals and birds before Adam to show goodness. A tiger, a bear, a lion, a deer, and a monkey are shown to Adam in turn. It's not just beasts. Flying animals were also on the list. Birds such as eagles, crows and ostriches were lined up. And God looks at Adam's face. Do you like it! Have you guys ever seen a line? First of all, the matchmaker brings a picture. I go to a place where I can find out about my education, parental occupation, and job. What if you don't like it when you sit down and look at your face, say hello, or stand up? Once the face hardens. No! But what if you like it? As I remember your face, my heart races. It's this guy! Get a feel for the first impression.
But what would Adam's face look like when various beasts came out to Adam one by one? Animals can't just imagine what they are today. Before the Fall, the animals in Eden are much nicer than they are now. It is said that she is a very kind woman, and if she is noble, she is like a crane. What if a really cool crane had become Adam's wife? You have to be a companion to help one of them. But after giving each animal a name, Adam is still alone.
What does this mean? It means that you cannot become an animal as a condition of being a matchmaker to help Adam in marriage. The most important question in marriage is whether this marriage, or the relationship between two people that consists of this marriage, is animalistic or personal? is to do To be animalistic means to be impersonal. Non-personal encounters mean that marriage should not be considered in the first place.
What's the worst thing about getting married in an impersonal encounter? David's son, Amnon, fell in love with his half-sister Tamar and forcibly took his body. Nothing crushes the sacred encounter of marriage like this. Before marriage, it's like love, it's passion, yes. When you're young, you don't know yet how much weight one you choose will weigh on you for the rest of your life. However, as we live for ten or twenty years, the more we live, the more difficult it is to reach the goal of becoming one in a marriage that begins with an impersonal approach.
And the same goes for marriage. As a helper, the key is whether a personal encounter is possible. If you are stubborn or obsessive, you cannot have a personal appearance. Making a unilateral decision, judging, and taking action is cool! manly! But how impersonal it is will come later in life. If you look at a coercive and coercive relationship between two people, a relationship where one side is too leaning on one side, or a married couple living together, one might be reminiscent of a master and a servant because one has too much power and the other is too weak.
There is no personal consideration or temperance in the animal world. A strong one dominates an animal with a weaker strength. If you want to be a helper for each other after getting married, it is very bad to be submissive to the other person with your heart or to have patience without your heart. Be patient, be patient, be patient, this is far from biblical marriage. Also, it is a very animalistic and impersonal marriage to press by force because I have more than my partner. The most animalistic marriage is the use of violence. Adam is not satisfied with the help of any animal he brings. Why? Because they are personal beings in the image of God.
Second, the second condition of meeting a helping partner must be spiritual union. (2;21-25)
A helping partner is an appropriate mate. The mission Adam received from God was to take all the creatures in the Garden of Eden and enter God's rest, but it is not good to carry out this tremendous work alone. God has shown himself as a helper to all the animals, but since Adam did not find any among them, I will present the most suitable co-worker for him. This time, I'm going to give you a match that suits Adam the most and understands Adam's heart the most.
So he puts Adam to sleep and takes one of Adam's ribs. In today's terms, general anesthesia, somatic cell cloning, and so on. In the old days, when medicine and life sciences were not developed, it would have been much more difficult to understand the context of verses 21 and 22 than it is now. Mary conceived a baby without a man, and this was really only accepted by faith. However, these days, such terms as anesthesia technology, cloning technology, somatic cell extraction with just one DNA hair, and virgin reproduction are being talked about too naturally. The important thing here is that God gives Adam a woman as a gift, and that gift is a being that was in Adam.
What I always say to the members who pray for marriage is not to say that there is no man or no woman, but pray with faith. Let's not say how long do we have to wait when there is no man who believes in Jesus, and the only man in this world you need to give to me is one man. God loves me so much that He does not spare His only begotten Son for me, but God, who loves me as much as the life of Jesus, will not prepare just one person for me! You must have this belief. This man is handsome, smart, and gentle, but he doesn't believe in Jesus.
If I miss this person, will I come again?