How do we put our glorious God on display in our marriages? Why was it not good for man to be alone? Was the problem one of aloneness or loneliness? During a recent counselor’s roundtable discussion we explored the purposes of God for marriage and its implications for counseling.
As you search the Scriptures for God’ perspective on marriage, the audio and outline found below provides an overview of our discussion that we think you’ll find helpful.
00:10 What does our marriage point to?
- Self or the savior?
- Our deficiency or his glory?
- Aloneness or loneliness?
00:35 Implication from Genesis 1
- Man in God’s image
- Representative rule and relationship
- Derived dominion
- One-flesh union
00:55 How to fulfill God’s mandate
01:05 Paul’s confirmation of the problem
- Christ and the church
- Triune God
1:30 Learning about the God who IS
- Who loves unconditionally
- Who cherishes, helps, commits, never leaves
01:45 How to put this glorious God on display
For further reflection…
” In Genesis 1 man is called to bring God glory, or represent Him, by imaging Him in caring for the subhuman kingdom and reproducing. His chief need was to delight in the presence of God and love or glorify Him….but imaging could not be done alone. The image of God is corporate in that we all share in it. The image of God is not complete in any one non-divine person” (Welch, “Who Are We,” 34).
“In the Bible the human family is introduced as a deliberate parallel to the divine trinity….The Son submits to the Father, The Holy Spirit submits to the Father and the Son. This relationship is parallel to that of the man and woman within marriage” (James Boice, Genesis, 132, 133).
“Adam was made to reflect God to the rest of creation. So the lack in his solitude existed first in the fact that a solitary being (one alone) cannot adequately reflect our triune God (three in one)….The Godhead could not begin to be experienced or displayed by one man alone. It would be impossible for Adam to rightly reflect God as a solitary being, for God is in union with himself, and thus Adam needed be in union with another” (Fitzpatrick, Helper, 35-36).
10,000 Blessings in The Wonderful Counselor,
Rod and Staff Ministries
Photo Source: Hold My Hand, Walk With Me by Jonathan McPherskesen CC By-NC-SA 2.0