United and Inseparable Except in Judgment
The biblical account of Adam and Eve conveys an understanding that God created marriage to combine a man and woman into a union of fitting complements, well suited to fulfill the purpose of representing him among all creation. We learn from his judgment of their disobedience that God holds a man and wife in inseparable responsibility to obey him. Both will incur punishment for an act of disobedience. However, he judges them individually when they disobey and assigns each separate responsibility for his or her punishment.
We study the account of Adam and Eve to understand God’s purpose for marriage as a union of fitting complements well suited to fulfill his purpose for human beings. He created Adam first to fill the purpose but decided that Adam alone was inadequate. He declared that Adam needed a comparable helper from within in order to fulfill the responsibilities of representing God among other creations. Therefore, he created Eve as Adam’s comparable helper so the two together will be adequate to fulfill God’s purpose for humans.
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The creation account includes their initial life in the Garden of Eden, disobedience to God in eating from the forbidden, and punishment and removal from the initial “Garden of Eden” environment to the current life that we know. He pronounced a specific punishment for each after they disobeyed him. We learn from his judgment of their disobedience that God holds a man and wife in inseparable responsibility to obey him. Both will incur punishment for an act of disobedience. However, he judges them individually when they disobey and assigns each separate responsibility for his or her punishment.
We discuss the account of creation to understand the broad but clear statement of God’s purpose for people, he created Adam to fill the purpose, and later created Eve as a fitting complement for Adam because he found Adam inadequate alone to fulfill the purpose. Further, we discuss the disobedience and punishment to understand he held them jointly and inseparably responsible for obedience but punished them individually so each can manage his or her punishment separately.
Continue reading “Union of Seamless Complements—Adam and Eve Purpose of Marriage”
In this bible study we examine interactions at the call-up of the first disciples of Jesus (based on the account in Luke 5:1–11) to understand God’s expectations and designs for human partnerships. The interactions illustrate that God expects people to work together, in collaboration, to accomplish objectives that he places in our path. For each assignment, he chooses a leader and provides opportunity for other potential participants to join the leader in an alliance to accomplish the task. The chosen leader is expected to recognize the assignment—an opportunity that God has placed in his/her path, start work as needed while leaving doors open for others to contribute. The other potential participants are expected to recognize the opportunity and make themselves available to contribute, by staying close enough to offer needed assistance but far enough to avoid getting in the way of accomplishing the objective. We learn through the interactions that God will reward all participants in a successful alliance. Leading or following, the size of your harvest will be determined by your capacity.