The Goal of Faith part 2

She is Made in His Image

We continue today looking at the Goal of Christian Faith. Once again,

The Goal of Faith is to be fully transformed by the love of God, able to stand firmly and boldly on the Day of Jesus’ Return, knowing you have been faithful.

Last week, we looked at the beginning of Creation and humanity's design to bear the image of God. The attributes of God, especially in terms of His ethics, but also in creativity and administrative dominion, are given to humans who are to be overseers of His Creation. This image has been tarnished by sin, though, and that is why Jesus came.

Jesus came to restore the image of God in humanity through His death and resurrection.

And so, as we continue to look at the story of God restoring His Creation to its condition before the Fall, I also want to remind us of the call to action that we have as Christians.

As followers of Christ, we are called to reveal the Image of God through an active, transformed ethic—which includes the household.

These three points are the foundation for our series. So each week, as we look at a particular story or topic from Scripture, they are going to fall into one of these main points.

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, I'd like us to examine how God uses faithful women to help restore the image of God in humanity. The family is the primary means by which God's Holy Spirit sanctifies us. The US is a very individualistic culture, though that has been changing in the last few decades, and we tend to think of salvation, growth, and maturity as individual actions. "They make their own decisions" is a common mantra, and though there is much truth in that statement, it is not the whole truth. All of us are influenced to some degree by friends, culture, media, and mostly, I would argue, by family. In fact, a recent study has demonstrated that family characteristics have more influence on preschoolers than Child Care. Now, this may seem obvious to some, but keep in mind that many children will spend roughly 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week in childcare. And, school age kids are in school about 8 hours a day (longer if in extracurriculars), 5 days a week. It seems like our society is designed to pull kids from families, and yet, studies continue to reinforce what the Bible has said for millennia--parents are the primary influence on kids.

With that in mind, let's look at God's design for the family, today focusing on the mother. (Next month, we'll look at the fathers for Father's Day.)

Marriage Before the Fall | Genesis 1:27-28, 2:15-25

Genesis 1:27-28

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Our first point is fairly simple: The image of God is revealed in both male and female humans.

It is worth noting, because Christians traditionally have tended to place the emphasis on masculine traits for God. However, in the recent century, a line of Christianity has emphasized the feminine. In fact, some extreme feminists have co-opted Christian terminology in advocating a new cult-like version of the Christian faith. Both of these extremes fail to understand God's nature. He is transcendent beyond male/female, and He reveals Himself through husband and wife.

Next, note male and female are to be administrators of the Earth. In verse 28, God blesses them, plural. They are to be fruitful, multiply, fill, and subdue the earth. Man and Woman are created to be co-administrators of God's Creation. Chapter 2 goes further into this point. Let's read Gen 2:15-25.

Genesis 2:15-25

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Chapter 2 expands the Creation narrative with a look at the Garden God creates for His new human. The human is supposed to work the garden and eat of its fruit. But, the Lord knows the man should not be left alone, because it's common knowledge men should not be left to their own devices. Notice the Lord guides the man to realize his need for a helper. All the creatures are brought in front of Adam, and he gives them names. None of the animals are suitable helpers for him, though. And so, the Lord puts the man to sleep in order to bring a woman.

The woman is formed from Adam in order to be a “helper fit for him”. The KJV translates it as "help meet" which is an Old English term for someone who can fulfill a task that cannot be done by an individual. This is one of those examples where the KJV has the better translation, but in our modern world it's a struggle to understand the explanation. Recent theologians have discussed better ways to translate the phrase here, and personally, I think "ally" is fairly appropriate. The word 'helper' is ezer in Hebrew, and it pops up throughout the Old Testament. Interestingly though, it is typically a military word. Consider Psalm 121. The psalmist asks, "From where does my ezer come from? My ezer comes from the Lord."

Look again at verses 23 & 24. Man and Wife become “one flesh”. They are counterparts that make a whole. A little more Hebrew trivia for you: There are two words for ‘man’ in the Hebrew. Earlier in verse 7, the word is Adam which is why we call the man, Adam. In verse 23, Adam says she is called ishah, because she was taken out of ish. The difference is that adam can carry the meaning of “mankind” while ish typically is reserved for males only. Now, I point this out because we should take note of the progression of the story.

Adam (mankind) is one person, but he is alone. God creates an ally, a counterpart, for Adam straight from Adam. They are divided male and female, but they come from the one human. God’s design for the family begins with one man and one woman who together comprise the picture of humanity. And from this first couple will come all the living. In 3:20, Adam gives her the name Eve which the Hebrew sounds like the word for ‘living’.

Women are designed to be men’s allies who bring life to the family.

Now, before someone interprets that to mean all they do is bear children, I will quickly add “life” encompasses, but is not only, bringing children into the world. In fact, this is usually the part where a preacher will bring up Proverbs 31, but we just don’t have time to read it. But, if you do read it, you will notice that the woman is praised because she is bringing success and wealth into the family. She is not barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, she is taking on the world!

Matthew Henry describes the story,

“Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”

They are true allies, true complements, and when functioning as God designs, they bring true life into the world. Consider that last verse, 25, in which the narrator notes, they were not ashamed. This is not a throwaway statement. It is a linguistic device that reminds us,

God created man and woman to be in harmony with one another.

As hard as it is for many to believe, there was a time when men and women got along perfectly fine. But, as we saw last week, the Fall ruined the harmony.

At the Fall | Genesis 3:16

Now, we looked at this passage last week, so just quickly look with me at verse 16. A part of sin’s curse is the division between men and women. God says the woman’s desire will be “contrary” or “toward” the husband, but he will “rule” over her. Now, these English words have thousands of years of baggage with them, but unfortunately the Hebrew words are actually fairly ambiguous. There is a theological rabbit hole that we do not have time to explore, but the gist of what is being said can be gleaned by looking at a couple of other verses.

“Her desire will be toward her husband” is fairly simple, but, just for some homework, note that Gen 4:7 uses the same construction in talking about sin’s desire toward Cain. Sin seeks after Cain in a similar manner that Eve will seek after Adam. There is an old saying that may clarify it all, “You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.”

That same verse also uses the same word for ‘rule.’ Cain must ‘rule,’ or ‘take dominion,’ over sin, otherwise sin is going to destroy him. Eve is told her desire is for the husband, but she will be ruled by Adam. Another part of Genesis, Gen 1:16, talks about the sun and moon ruling over day and night. There, ‘rule’ has more to do with prominence than kingship.

Now, I bring out these two passages in order to demonstrate how our English translation works to give the meaning of the words, but sometimes we bring with us meaning from our 21st century problems. If we read Genesis 3 in terms of traditionalism or feminism, then we will completely miss what is being said here.

Sin has brought a conflict of wills between men and women.

The entire debate, and quite frankly culture war, surrounding the roles of men and women only give evidence to the sinful state of humanity. We are not being sanctified by continuing to argue and fight over who should be in charge, or who is more equal than who.

So, what hope do we have for mothers tired of a fighting household? I’m glad you asked. Turn with me to a relatively obscure verse, Ezekiel 36:25-28.

The Promise of the Spirit of the Lord | Ezekiel 36:25-28 & Eph 4:17-24

Ezekiel 36 comes in a series of prophecies regarding what God is going to do when the Messiah comes and in the latter days. We have read a promise from the Lord that has come true because of Christ.

When we surrender to Christ, we receive His Spirit, and He causes us to walk in His statutes.

We are no longer captive to sin which divides us. We can overcome sin through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

The more we rely on the Holy Spirit in our decision making, in our attitudes, and especially in our relationship with our spouses, the more we will live out God’s design for the household.

Now, in the New Testament we have a set of commands that comprise what has been termed the Household Code, or Domestic Code (or if you’re a German theologian, Haustafeln). We do not have time today to go into detail with it, but rest assured we will return June 20 to this topic. For today, I want to reinforce our ongoing point:

As followers of Christ, we are called to reveal the Image of God through an active, transformed ethic—which includes the household.

We looked at the sequence of God’s revelation-doctrine-ethics-application last week when we skipped through Colossians. This same sequence is seen in Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Peter, and Titus (though Titus presents it in a different order). Today we will look at this order in Ephesians.

First, if you look at Eph 1-3, you will see Paul spends the first three chapters expanding and explaining the work of Christ. It is pure doctrine. He continues into chapter 4 with more doctrine, though he begins to address our response to what Christ has done. Then in verse 17, we have a transition to ethics. So, again, here is the sequence in Ephesians:

1-3: revelation & doctrine

4: ethics

5-6: application

Let’s read together Eph. 4:17-24, because this is the transition statement. Paul gives us the key to harmony in the family.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

There is much to glean from the verses that follow, even in the infamous “wives submit to your husbands” and “husbands love your wives.” But, if we do not get the sequence right, we will fail to understand what it means to submit and love.

We must first recognize who Christ is and what He has done for us—namely salvation from sin!

We must then stop acting like the pagans around us! It is perfectly normal, especially in our day and age, for husbands and wives to argue, fight, and divorce. It has become expected in many circles. Statistics have shown a decrease in marriage and family-building, and the reasons seem to be both financial and a lack of maturity. We are selfish people living in a selfish world. But that is not how God designed us!

Only then can we be renewed in the spirit of our minds and put on the new self, “which is created after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Harmony in the home comes when we quit acting like the dying world and live out God’s design empowered by the Holy Spirit.

If we truly want to honor your mother today, then honor the Lord who made her in His image, who gave His Son so that we all can have eternal life. Turn from your sin that destroys, and turn to your Savior who gives life.