A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance
by Steve West
Table of Contents
1 Marriage in Genesis
2 Marriage in the Law, Wisdom, and Prophets
3 Marriage in the New Testament
4 Marriage in the World Today
Summary
Chapter 1: Marriage in Genesis
We need a coherent account for both the glory and shame of humanity, and the opening chapters of Genesis provide us with the true explanation for our current human reality. Scripture starts with a created world and the first married couple, and it ends with a greater new heaven and new earth, with the marriage between the Lamb and his bride. Marriage is a central theme in Scripture, and points to the ultimate, joyful triumph of Christ with his people. Genesis reveals that human beings are the unique image-bearers and representatives of God, that mankind was created as male and female, and that Adam and Eve were created under God’s blessing to flourish. Human beings have a glorious purpose and destiny which is cosmic in scale.
Genesis 1 describes the creation of the entire universe, and then Genesis 2 speaks of the marriage of a man and a woman. The world was created good, but it was not good for Adam to be alone. God is triune and relational, so his image-bearers need proper companionship. Eve was created to be Adam’s helper; she was not inferior, but she was given to help strengthen Adam as her head. This complementarity is God-given before the fall, and it is part of the creation design for human flourishing. In our fallen world this beautiful dynamic is marred and can be broken, but a return to Edenic values and relational ideals is the only good way forward. Men and women are of equal worth and make their own indispensable contributions. When God created Eve for Adam, Adam’s response was to praise him and to joyfully receive Eve in love, precisely because she was a gift that was the same as he was, yet unique and different.
In Genesis 2:24, Moses provides a crucial comment on the nature of marriage and how it has abiding validity. The marriage relationship becomes the primary relationship, with the man and woman being welded together. The two become one flesh, one indivisible, holistic, comprehensive whole. Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed; they were transparent with nothing to hide.
The problems in marriages today are not a result of sexuality or God’s design: as Genesis 3 explains, these problems are the result of the fall. In tempting Eve, the serpent tries to completely change her view of reality by getting her to doubt God and to rely solely on her own evaluations, ostensibly because God cannot be trusted. Adam was there with Eve, and he failed to exercise his authority. Eve failed as a helper, and Adam failed as the head: the fall into sin was a catastrophic failure of marriage. Sin alienates people from God and each other, and a good marriage cannot be built on hiding from God. Adam and Eve brought ruin instead of the greater paradise they envisioned, and the serpent is cursed with the promise of total destruction in the future.
Fallen humanity builds a sinful empire against God, but in love and grace God forgives and calls people into the City of God that he builds through history, which is established by Jesus, and which will have a glorious consummation. We are called to conform to reality and God’s design, rather than sinfully—and impossibly—try to bring reality into conformity with our wishes. In sin, husbands harshly try to dominate their wives, and wives try to control and lead their husbands. This leads to conflict, recrimination, resentment, and breakdown. The only solution for our sinful tendencies is found in the gospel and God’s grace. Before the end of Genesis 3, we see that God has restored Adam and Eve in hope and life. Despite our fall into sin, it is an incredible gift of grace that God allows us to keep the covenant relationship of marriage. By his grace, every marriage is worth fighting for and preserving well. . . .
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