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Marriage, Family, the Church and the State
(And the Up-Coming Election)
It Is Not Good
In the beginning God created Heavens and Earth. For six days the refrain echoes through creation. After God creates the light; “It is good.” After the land and sea, “It is good.” After plants, and birds and fish and animals, “It is good.” But then, after God formed Adam from the dirt of the ground and breathed life into him, the Lord says something stunning, “It is not good...” [Genesis 2:18] There is something “not good” about Adam, and this is before the fall into sin.
What is not good about Adam? The Lord tells us: “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Man's aloneness is not good. Man alone cannot “be fruitful and multiply.” [Genesis 1:22,28] Man alone cannot bring forth life. Good is whatever brings forth, sustains, upholds, enriches, and embraces life. So the Lord pulls a rib from Adam's side and makes of it Eve, and the Lord brought Eve to Adam, and the two are given to each other in marriage (the Lord now sees that “It is very good”).
The Two Become One
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” [Genesis 2:24] This is what the text says after Adam and Eve are married, and it is good for us to consider carefully the words of this text.
First, note the first word: Therefore. The institution of marriage does not drop from the sky, it is built upon something, it has a reason and rationale, a “therefore.” Marriage flows from and stands upon the creation of God. In other words, marriage is because God created man and woman, Adam and Eve. This means that the institution of marriage is bound to the fact of creation. Any other fashioning or redefinition of marriage is a flight from the gift of creation.
A few months ago I attended an information meeting for pastors discussing the marriage amendment to the state constitution. One pastor, discussing the reasonableness of marriage, said, “You see the evidence that marriage is between one man and one woman every time you change a baby's diaper.” We could call this the “under the diaper” argument for marriage, and it is really nothing more than an argument from creation. Men and woman are biologically different, part and counterpart, and there is no creating of children without the two; there is no family without the union of one man and one woman. So the institution of marriage and the family is bound up historically and rationally to God's act of creating man and woman.
Second, notice how the Lord speaks of man: “He shall leave his father and mother.” [Genesis 2:24] This is stunning when we consider that there was, as of yet, no father or mother in all the earth. Adam and Eve were yet to have any children, and so they were not yet father and mother. When the Lord speaks of “father” and “mother” together with marriage He would teach us that the vocations of husband and wife are bound together with the vocation of father and mother. Note in the Lord's institution of marriage that children are assumed, the union of man and woman is to bring forth children, to bring forth life. God's gift of marriage is bound to God's gift of family.
Third, the Lord speaks of man and woman becoming “one flesh.” When God pulled the rib from Adam's side, the one (Adam) became two (Adam and Eve). When the Lord gives Adam and Eve to each other in marriage, the two become one. Jesus quotes this text from Genesis when He is asked about marriage.
“Have you not read the He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” [St Matthew 19:4-6]
Husband and wife are joined together by God, through His authority. “What God has joined together,” this word is true of all of our families, as well as the institution of family. The devil has as his aim to destroy what the Lord has created. Just as the Lord has joined together husband and wife, so is the devil, the world and the sinful flesh trying to tear them apart. Just as the Lord delights in giving life, the devil comes to steal and kill and destroy. Just as the Lord would have us rejoice in the gift of husband and wife, of children and family, the devil would have us despise them.
Marriage and Society; Family and Government
Marriage, as we have seen in the text of Genesis 2:24, in the first and primary institution of human government, and we want to push this even further: marriage and the family are the foundation and source of all human government.
Consider carefully this sentence from Luther's Large Catechism:
“For all authority flows and is propagated from the authority of parents.”
This is a stunning insight into the structure of human society and all governments: that it is nothing more than an extension of the authority of parents. This understanding, then, gives clarity to the role of all governments: they are to serve the Lord's gift of life, and therefore the government is to serve the Lord's gift of marriage and family.
Should we be surprised, then, to find this understanding reflected in the statutes of Colorado? "It is the declared public policy of this state to maintain desirable marital and family relations; to promote and foster the marriage relationship and reconciliation of estranged spouses; and to take reasonable measures to preserve marriages, particularly where minor children are involved, in the interest of strengthening the family life foundation of our society, and in reducing the economic and social costs to the state resulting from broken homes." (Colorado Statute 14-12-101) We can rejoice in this, that our state government officially recognizes the “family life foundation of our society.” This is good and right.
Defining and Destroying Marriage
There is a constant assault on the Lord's gifts from the world, the sinful flesh, and the devil. The devil never rests in attacks; he is always scraping and clawing at the Lord's gifts, this is true for each of our families as well as for the very institution of marriage and family. The world and the sinful flesh want to redefine and recreate the Lord's gifts, and so the Lord's gift of family is always under assault.
This month there will be two issues on the Colorado ballot regarding marriage and family: Amendment 43 and Referendum I.
Amendment 43. The talk around Amendment 43 often concerns “defining” marriage, and we should be cautious of talking like this. Marriage as one man and one woman was defined long ago by God Himself and written into the very fabric of creation. We as individuals nor as a state are not given the authority to “define” marriage; it is what it is.
Imagine having a voters meeting to define Jesus as the Son of God. Say the majority voted that He is not God's Son, does that make it true? No, Jesus remains the Son of God completely apart from our vote and our approval. The same is true with marriage, it will be the union of man and woman, no matter how the election goes. The election does not determine what is true.
And yet, just as if someone were to come into the church and declare that Jesus is not God's Son, we would all want to stand up, and with one voice proclaim the truth of the Lord's Word, that Jesus is the Son of God. Thus, with the Amendment put before the voters, we want to speak the truth of the Lord's creation, that marriage is the union of one man and one women. Such clarity (which is assumed by reasonable people) is good for our state laws.
Referendum I. On the other hand, Referendum I concerns the creation of “domestic partners.” Such an invention is put forth as an “alternative lifestyle.” This is nothing but a despising of the Lord's gifts of marriage and family. Life can never come from a domestic partnership, it is man remaining alone, it is not good.
The Vocation of Citizen
The Lord has given most of us the vocation of citizen (not of rulers). What does this mean? First, it means we pray and intercede for our rulers. St Paul says, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior.” [1 Timothy 2:1-3] “First of all,” says Paul, we pray, and this is good that we intercede and stand before the Lord on behalf of our rulers.
Here is one such prayer for our nation and rulers:
For our nation, that she would embrace the Lord’s gift of marriage, man and woman united by God’s institution; for our leaders, that they would faithfully carry out their offices for the protection and fostering of God-pleasing marriages and families; and for all people, that all may speak well of the Lord’s institution of marriage for the benefit of man and woman and for the procreation, nurture, and upbringing of children, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
Another prayer from the general prayer in The Lutheran Hymnal:
Grant also health and prosperity to all that are in authority, especially to the President and Congress of the United States, the Governor and Legislature of this commonwealth, and to all our Judges and Magistrates, and endue them with grace to rule after Thy good pleasure, to the maintenance of righteousness and to the hindrance and punishment of wickedness, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Amen.
As we pray we give thanks that the Lord has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
In the United States we are also given the opportunity to vote. Our vote is guided by reason, what is just and right, what promotes and protects life.
The Lord's Answer to Man's Sin
In all of these questions we are brought face to face with the sinfulness of this world. Marriages are broke by violence, perversion, and abandonment. Families are torn apart by selfishness and disinterest. Special interest groups set themselves against marriage and the family. We are all sunk in sin and death.
But the Lord does not leave us to die, He has sent His Son to die for us. He is the faithful Husband of His bride the Church. This is the glorious mystery of the Gospel, as Paul extols it: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loves the church and give Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present Her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” [Ephesians 5:25-27] Jesus is our Bridegroom. He has come to us in our not good “aloneness” and (in His incarnation and in His death) has made Himself one with us. He has given up His life for us; He has washed us and made us clean by the baptismal washing of water and the Word; and He continues to come with His gracious gifts.
He speaks His Word of forgiveness and restoration into our brokenness and aloneness. Just as His creation is meant to bring forth life; His Gospel certainly brings forth eternal life. Surrounded by sin and death, we do not despair. In this world we do have trouble, but we are glad because Jesus has overcome this world.
May God grant to His church and to all societies that we might rejoice in His gift of marriage and family. Amen.
For further study:
Civil Government: Romans 13:1-4
Citizens: St Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:5-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-3; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14
You may also be interested in some of the articles on this topic prepared by the Comission on Theology and Church Relations.
