by David E. Moss

A Riddle

Long before Adam, one there lived
And liveth still it is believed;
Whose name reversed herein you’ll see.
Look close and find out who this may be.

Context is so important when defining words and concepts. For example, consider the word “bank.” What do you think the word “bank” means as it is used in the following sentence?

“The man put the money in the bank.”

You probably are thinking of a building which houses a financial institution whose business is to keep your money safe, pay you interest, or loan it to someone else. However, if we expand the above sentence and broaden the context, the sense of the word “bank” changes.

“The man put the money in the bank by the river, as the police chased him after the robbery.”

Now you see the man burying the money in the dirt of a river bank in an attempt to hide it. This is a much different image than the first smaller sentence suggested. The thing that made the difference was the context.

In another illustration, imagine a fly inside an airplane. Let’s say, for the sake of illustration, that a fly normally flies at a speed of 50 miles per hour. And let’s say that the airplane in which the fly is flying, is flying at a speed of 500 miles per hour. Since the fly is flying inside the airplane and in the same direction as the airplane, how fast is the fly really flying? For some, the answer would depend upon the context. To the passengers inside the airplane, the fly would appear to be flying at a speed of 50 miles per hour. However, if someone on the ground watching the airplane go by could also see the fly flying inside the airplane, the fly would be seen as flying faster than the airplane at a speed of 550 miles per hour. In fact, the fly inside the airplane is flying at a speed of 550 miles per hour. Those inside the airplane would not perceive this because of their close context. Only those on the ground would be able to see this because they can see the larger context.

Context makes a big difference in understanding.

So, what is the family? Context will also influence how we define the family. If we look only at our human circumstances, it would be similar to being inside the airplane and being limited in our context. The result will be a definition of the family that may appear to be accurate, but does not actually fit with reality. This is what is happening in our world today. The family is being redefined by those who are inside the airplane (in this case – the world system) as any group of people (perhaps even including animals) which live together and love each other. But if we can step back and view the family from the bigger picture, i.e. the larger context seen only from a divine vantage point, what do we find?

The Divine Commission to the Home

1. The General Commission to Humanity

   When God created man, He gave mankind a commission. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26). “Let them have dominion!” God planted man on the earth with the intention that man would exercise dominion in all the earth just as God exercised dominion in all the heavens. In doing so, man would reflect the image of God and bring glory to Him.

   God said more about this in Psalm 8. There in verse 1, He makes reference to His own glory: O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Then in verses 4 and 5, He refers to the glory of man: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Then in verses 6-8, in explaining what this crown of glory and honor involved, He said, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. In other words, the crown of glory consisted of having dominion.

   However, according to Hebrews 2:6-10, man does not now have that crown of glory. After quoting the verses noted above from Psalm 8, He says in Hebrews 2:8, But now we see not yet all things put under him. This is because in man’s fall into sin, he lost that crown of glory when he abdicated to Satan, submitting to the will of the Devil rather than the will of God.

   The wonderful part of the story as it is related in Hebrews 2, is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was also made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor so that He could taste death for every man. In doing so, it was His objective to bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). In other words, in salvation man would be restored to the original commission given to him in creation.

   Therefore, man’s commission is to exercise dominion on the earth and thus reflect the glory of God. Everything that man does, must then fit into the context of that commission. This includes the functions of men and women as individuals and their functions together in social unions.

2. The Commission to the Man and to the Woman

   God intended a distinction between man and woman from the very beginning. Jesus Himself verified this when He said, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female (Matthew 19:4). He also ordained an order of headship. God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman (1 Corinthians 11:3).

   The woman is placed last in this order, but still is given an important commission. It was noted soon after man was created that something was seriously lacking in Adam’s life. So God made woman to be a help meet for him. The word used for “help” in Genesis 2:18 which describes woman’s commission, is also used in other places of Scripture. For example, it is used in Psalm 121:1-2 where we are told that our help comes from the Lord. So this “help” function to which woman was assigned is exactly the same “help” function for which God Himself is known. This makes the “help” commission for woman a significant matter. In fact, woman was made for this role precisely because man needed help. It was not good for him to be alone because he could not function effectively alone. He needed help. So woman was made and granted this significant commission. It is easy to think of the importance of man’s role of head over the wife and family as a reflection of God’s headship over all persons, angelic or human. But we must also understand that helping is just as much a divine function as is being head. Therefore, woman’s commission is no less significant than man’s.

   In fact, please note that in the general commission to mankind, men and women are given a partnership in exercising dominion. In Genesis 1:27-28 the Bible says, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. The “them” to whom God said “Be fruitful…and have dominion,” included the male and female, both of whom God created in His own image, commissioning them together.

   Thus it takes both head and help to give a complete picture of who God is. God is head over all, but He also is One who helps all over whom He is head. A man alone cannot reflect the fullness of God’s glory. A man and woman together are required to reflect the fulness of God’s glory.

3. The Commission for Marriage

   With the above context, the divine commission for marriage can be understood more precisely. This commission is for one man and one woman brought together in one union. Genesis 2:24 expresses it thus: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. The word “cleave” means cling to, stick, to, or be joined together. A man and a woman are glued together in marriage so that they are not two, but one entity. It is in this union that they will be best equipped to fulfill the divine commission for mankind. In fact, 1 Corinthians 11:11 affirms that one without the other is less than one whole: Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. The two shall be one flesh. Just as you cannot have a coin with one side, you cannot have a marriage union without the two components that complete each other in the commission to reflect the glory of God — a man and a woman — a head and a help.

   In this relationship there is ordained a companionship that reflects this partnership. As God said in Genesis 2:18 that it is not good that the man should be alone, [because (shall we say) he desperately needs help], so He said in Malachi 2:14 that the wife is the companion of the husband. This word companion is a very interesting term to be applied to the relationship between husband and wife. The root word of “companion” was used in Exodus 26:3-6 in reference to the manner in which the curtains of the Tabernacle were put together. When it says in Exodus that the curtains were to be “coupled” together, the word “coupled” is the root word to “companion” in the Malachi passage. Furthermore, it says in Exodus 26:6 that the purpose of coupling the curtains together was so that together they would make “one Tabernacle.” This is the sense in which a man and a woman become companions in marriage. They are coupled together so that they lose their separate identities and together become one identity in their marriage. This is why Genesis 2:24 says they become one flesh. This is a composite one as the LORD is one LORD in Deuteronomy 6:4 consisting of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So a marriage is one flesh, consisting of two persons, husband and wife.

   Marriage is the vehicle through which God intended that man and woman as a single unit together would in their respective roles partner in exercising dominion over the earth. Man would rule and woman would help. Together they were to reproduce and multiply — not only more human beings — but more men and women who could partner together, thereby extending the ability of humanity to exercise dominion and fully reflect the glory of the sovereign God.

Divine Principles for the Home

In light of this, God has outlined some principles for the home which are intended to facilitate fulfillment of this commission.

1. Marriage is honorable.

   Hebrews 13:4a says, Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled… The word honor in the Bible refers to something of high value. Marriage has been assigned a value by God. It is honorable. That means it has the highest possible value in the eyes of God.

   The honor of marriage is based on God’s original idea. Jesus was asked about marriage and its durability in Matthew 19. In verse 8, Jesus said that broken marriages resulted from the hardness of man’s heart; and then He affirmed that God’s original intent for marriage was the foundational principle that should govern man’s understanding of what is right. He said, but from the beginning it was not so.

   In other words, marriage is supposed to be on the gold standard. For example, when paper money was first issued, gold was the standard that determined the value of the paper dollars. That means each dollar of paper money represented an actual deposit of gold in the bank equal to the value noted on the paper dollar bill. As our economy declined, our government reduced the value of each paper dollar to an equivalency of silver, and thus issued the silver certificates. Now, there is no promise of gold or silver deposits for the paper money we use to buy things. Take a paper dollar to a bank and you can exchange it for other paper dollars, or coins that are made of inferior materials. But if you want gold, you must pay about 500 of those paper dollars to get just one ounce. That makes our paper money worth very little.

   Our society has in the same way taken marriage off of the gold standard. Likewise, God’s original intent for marriage was the gold standard — on man as head and one woman as helper, together reflecting the fulness of God’s glory. But marriage has been devalued by no fault divorce, by the affirming of alternative relationships, and by the redefining of the family to include something other than the marriage of one man and one woman in a one flesh union. Just as we wish our money would get back to the gold standard, we ought to once again honor the divine gold standard for marriage and the home.

2. Marriage is binding for life.

   In spite of what is being popularly taught in our modern era, the Bible is emphatic about God’s intention for marriage to be permanent as long as both husband and wife are alive on earth. In Romans 7:1-4, God makes a point about the believer’s relationship with Christ. He illustrates this with some particulars about the marriage relationship and in doing so affirms the principle of permanency for marriage.

   Before salvation, man is bound to the law (verse 1). However, through the work of Christ, we are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another (verse 4). He says in these statements that to be bound to Christ, we must first die to the law. We cannot be bound to both at the same time and death is required to sever our relationship with the law in order that we may be “married” to Christ. Christ’s death secured this needed death for us because when we are placed into Christ at the time of our salvation, we are also placed into His death (Romans 6:3-4).

   To illustrate this spiritual truth, He uses some particulars regarding marriage. He says, For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband (verse 2). Furthermore, if the married woman does not wait until her husband is dead before she marries another, she shall be called an adulteress (verse 3). He stresses this to give emphasis to the truth about being dead to the law in order to be married to Christ. But in the process, He relates an important truth about the binding nature of marriage until the death of one spouse. Just as the binding nature of marriage can only be broken by the death of one spouse so that the surviving spouse can be married to another, so we must be dead to the law in order to be married to Christ. We could say the reverse is also true. Just as we must be dead to the law in order to be married to Christ, so the binding nature of marriage can only be broken by the death of one spouse. When we do not maintain this order and we follow worldly ways instead, we dishonor the sanctity of marriage and we destroy the spiritual lesson about a believer’s relationship with Christ.

   This is not complicated, especially for those who have come to faith in Christ and to understanding of truth through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, from the beginning it was not so (Matthew 19:8). If God set up permanency to marriage in the beginning, then we ought to graciously accept His original intent. In fact, adhering to the original intent is crucial to the successful fulfillment of the divine commission.

3. Marriage Requires Commitment

   In the context where the marriage relationship is called a companionship (note above), the violation of that companionship is called treason. Malachi 2:14 says, Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. To act treacherously is to deceive and betray. The wife is coupled with the husband so that they are one flesh, just as the curtains were coupled together to make one Tabernacle. The husband and wife are bound by an unconditional covenant, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. It is the duty of each to remain committed to each other and the vows they have pledged together. Otherwise, what message is sent to those who observe, particularly the young folks of the next generation, regarding the divine commission of reflecting the image and glory of God? Since it takes both head and help to reflect that glory in completeness, to breach the relationship is to send an unholy message regarding the glory of God.

4. Parents are to be Honored.

   God’s statutory law indicates some high priorities for man. The fifth commandment says, Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12). Ephesians 6:2 in the New Testament repeats this commandment and specifies that this is the first commandment with promise. The promise is that it may be well with thee (Ephesians 6:3). How will it be well with children if they honor their parents? Boys will learn from their fathers how to be a man and how to treat a woman properly. Girls will learn from their mothers how to be a woman and how to treat a man properly. Both will learn from their parents the important elements of a marriage relationship — head and help — without which they will be helpless to fulfill the divine commission.

   As children honor their parents, they will learn that honor goes upward. Unfortunately, in our present society, honor is going downward. Children are being honored by their parents instead of the other way around. Lifestyles, priorities, schedules, values, and many other things are being determined in today’s families by the interests and demands of the children. But honor in the Bible is to go up, not down. Adults are to honor God and glorify Him. He is not the child of human adults, He is their head. If a child is to learn how to honor God, he must learn through the honoring of his parents that honor goes upward, so that extending that honor to God will be a natural process. If children are conditioned to think they are the center of the universe by parents who honor downward, children will presume upon God and expect that God too will simply give them whatever they want. This is why honoring parents is such a crucial principle to be instilled in children as early as possible. It will be a crucial element in shaping a child’s concept of God.

5. Children are to be Brought up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord

   Ephesians 6:4 says, And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is imperative that children learn how their lives fit into the context of the divine commission. Too much secularism prevails in our Christian homes today. Faith and devotion to God are relegated to extra curricular activity. If the family feels it does not have enough time together, they tend to stay home from church services to make up that time rather than deny themselves secular recreation. From this kind of lifestyle, children only see things from inside the airplane (note illustration above), rather than seeing the big picture from the ground. Parents must help their children get out of the airplane and see that the fly is flying at a speed of 550 miles per hour, that there is a divine perspective to things and their duty is to have their feet firmly planted on the ground where they can fulfill the divine commission.

6. Consideration is to be Given as to One’s Influence Upon future Generations.

   God said He would visit the iniquity of one generation to the third or fourth generation to follow, but He would visit mercy unto thousands of generations (Exodus 20:5-6). Which heritage would you rather leave behind— a heritage of iniquity that will adversely affect your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and possibly even your great-great-grandchildren —or a heritage of mercy that could have an endless effect upon those who follow you? Proverbs 13:22 says, A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children… What do you want that inheritance to be for your grandchildren? Psalm 103:17 says, But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children. Righteousness is a good thing to pass on to future generations. And if you do so, Proverbs 17:6 says, Children’s children are the crown of old men… It will be greatly rewarding if we can just teach our children.

We must step outside the airplane. We must look up and see the big picture to understand the divine context which should define our lives, our marriages, our homes. Only in doing so will we come to appreciate the true nature and purpose of marriage and the family, of the church and the Christian life, and of the divine commission given to mankind. So, let’s get back to the gold standard. Firmly plant your feet on the ground and keep looking up!