Male and Female

Male and Female

(Genesis 1:26-31)

Yearly Theme:  “Patience is…”

Series Title:  “Love and Marriage”

September 4^th, 2022

Something to think about:

Today, we start a new series entitled:  Love and Marriage.  The purpose of this series is to try and understand GOD’s purpose for marriage, and to compare and contrast whether or not we are living up to GOD’s ideal.  In order to do this, and give justice to this topic, over the next 4-weeks we will be exploring when the first establishment of this institution in the Bible and who it was between.  We will also explore where the sanctity of this institution came under attack.  And we will explore GOD’s means to restore that institution back to its original intent through Christ.

We begin today with the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible:  Genesis 1:

Genesis 1:26-31 (NLT),

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

²⁸ Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. ³⁰ And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

³¹ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! ^[1]

1. S. Lewis warned, in his 1943 lecture series The Abolition of Man, that if the old view is correct [meaning the traditional, Biblical view] and [humanity] is fundamentally an incarnated being with a given form and purpose, then any reduction of ‘our own species to the level of mere Nature’ will ruin us.[2]

In essence, humans aren’t just a random expression of the combination of proteins and amino acids coming together under just the right conditions through supposed natural processes.  Humans are a supernatural expression of a GOD, who, in His infinite wisdom and love created us in His image as incarnated reflections of His majesty and glory.  Both male and female transcend the rest of creation as the arbiters of GOD’s care, dominion, and rule over the rest of the earth.

Here’s the takeaway this morning:

Key Point:  “Above all creation, GOD created male and female as His image-bearers.”

What are the nuances of the creation narrative with regard to humans that are important for us to understand?  Let’s take a look:

• Uniquely different, but the  .

Genesis 1:27 (NLT),   So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

• Uniquely different, but  .

Genesis 1:28 (NLT),  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.  Fill the earth and govern it.  Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

• Uniquely different, but  bearing the image of GOD.

Genesis 26a, 27 (NLT),  ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” …  ²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image.   In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Something to take home:

1. T. Wright in his book entitled, Surprised by Hope, writes,

“When human beings give their heartfelt allegiance to and worship that which is not God, they progressively cease to reflect the image of God.  One of the primary laws of human life is that you become like what you worship; what’s more, you reflect what you worship not only to the object itself but also outward to the world around you.  Those who worship money increasingly define themselves in terms of it and increasingly treat other people as creditors, debtors, partners, or customers rather than as human beings.

“Those who worship sex define themselves in terms of it (their preferences, their practices, their past histories) and increasingly treat other people as actual or potential sex objects.  Those who worship power define themselves in terms of it and treat other people as either collaborators, competitors, or pawns.  These and many other forms of idolatry combine in a thousand ways, all of them damaging to the image-bearing quality of the people concerned and of those whose lives they touch.”[3]

The solution to the problems we face within our culture (and society in general) today can only be found in GOD’s original intent for creation, and more specifically, GOD’s original intent for humanity as male and female.  The formation of the family beginning with healthy marriages was the means by which humanity is to reflect the image of GOD.  And anything less than GOD’s intent is a perversion of what is true and not only destroys relationships, it destroys nations.

Key Point:  “Above all creation, GOD created male and female as His image-bearers.”

^[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ge 1:26–31.

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 71.

[3] N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, (HarperOne).