Introduction
In the beginning God “made them male and female.” Woman was “taken out of man” and the divine arrangement concerning marriage provided that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.” Jesus, commenting on this in Matthew 19:6 says, “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.” The Greek “ouketi” (no more, no longer, not again, cp. Mark 14:25; John 6:66; 14:19; Acts 20:38; Eph. 2:19) indicates that the union was a permanent one, not to be undone. This is effectively confirmed by Jesus in the latter part of the verse: “what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The death of one of the partners alone provides the freedom to remarry (I Cor. 7:39) and, should one partner see the need to separate, Paul’s advice is, “let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband.” (I Cor. 7:11)
We turn, now, to a detailed study of the appropriate scriptural passages.
Marriage for life – a divine institution
In the Matthew passage, Jesus, in response to a question from the Pharisees about divorce, goes right back to the garden of Eden and quotes two passages (Matt. 19:4,5):
Gen. 1:27: “He which made them at the beginning made them male and female.”
Gen. 2:24: “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
We all know that in Gen. 1:26, God states His purpose: “And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion…upon the earth.”
The Hebrew word for “earth” is “erets” which is translated both “land” and “earth” in the promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1; 13:14-17). “Earth,” therefore, speaks of the Abrahamic covenant (God’s people on God’s land or earth). “Dominion” speaks of the Davidic covenant — a king and rulers reigning over God’s kingdom on earth.
“Image” has reference to physical form; “likeness” means capacity for mental likeness. We note the record says “after our likeness,” “after” meaning “according to,” as “the LORD has sought him a man after (according to) his own heart” (I Sam. 13:14). Man had the capacity and potential to be God-like and this had to be developed in him.
We read further in Gen. 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” We note there is no reference to “likeness.” Male and female – man and woman – in physical form, were the crude materials out of which would grow the likeness of God. Intellectually, morally and spiritually man has a potential relationship to God.
Thus far we have seen that, in answer to a question about marriage and divorce, Christ reverts back to the very first chapter of Genesis. And in the beginning, at creation, we find that God’s purpose was not limited to Adam alone, but to “male and female,” intimating the union of man and woman in marriage. God’s purpose is stated in Genesis 1:26 — the commencement of that purpose is found in Genesis 1:27.
It is extremely important that, in this study, we grasp the full significance of:
“Male and female”
We must note the divine use of both singular and plural pronouns in this first chapter of Genesis:
Gen. 1:26 “Let us make man…let them”
V. 27 “God created man…male and female created he them.”
V. 28 “God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply…”
Compare also:
Gen. 5:2 “Male and female created he them…and called their name Adam.”
In one man, Adam, God created the constituents of both male and female! In Genesis 2, we have confirmation of this creative act where we read that, “Woman was taken out of Man.” Eve was in Adam. She was taken out of Adam — a type of the ecclesia taken out of Christ. Again, we have a statement of God’s purpose: that male and female, husband and wife, would be fruitful and have dominion over the earth. Marriage, at the creation of man, was an essential element in the purpose of God. We know that the fulfillment of this purpose will be accomplished in Christ and His multitudinous bride, filling the earth with the likeness of the glory of God (Num. 14:21). In Genesis 1, marriage is epitomized in the phrase “male and female,” illustrating and emphasizing that the union of husband and wife is an essential and integral part of his plan for creation. No wonder Jesus returned to this chapter to enforce his answer that marriage could not be dissolved by divorce!
But the divine record does not leave it at that. David and the apostle Paul build upon Genesis 1, showing that the reference to “man” in Genesis 1:27 is, in fact, a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ — and ultimately to his ecclesia.
Psalm 8
This is an important Messianic psalm oft quoted and alluded to by the apostle Paul. We limit our attention to only two verses for the purpose of this study:
Psa. 8:4 “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
V. 6 “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”
Comparing verse 6 with Gen. 1:26, we find the psalmist has substituted “him” for “them”: “Let us make man … and let them have dominion” becomes “Thou madest him to have dominion.” In the Genesis passage, and in the Psalm, “man,” “him” and “them” become synonymous.
Paul has a very helpful comment on Psalm 8 in Hebrews 2:6-9. In v.5 he establishes the time factor for this passage as being “the world to come,” the kingdom age. Paul thereby shows how the purpose of God expressed in Genesis 1 concerning “the man” will find its fulfillment in the kingdom through the Lord Jesus Christ (and, as we have seen, “the man…male and female” includes the bribe). We might set out the three passages as follows:
| Gen 1:26 | Psalm 8:4,6 | Heb. 2:6,8,9 |
| “What is man that thou art mindful of him… | “What is man that thou art mindful of him… | |
| “Let us make man… let them have dominion” | thou hast put all things under his feet.” | Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. |
| Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. | But we see Jesus…” |
We should read the appropriate verses in each passage carefully, and then compare them.
In summary, the figurative man of Gen. 1:26 and Psalm 8:6 is the Lord Jesus Christ of Heb. 2:9. This “man” in Genesis is also “them,” which includes the bride who is taken out of Christ. This confirms God’s purpose to fill the earth with His glory through Christ and his multitudinous bride as set out in Genesis 1:26,27. The divine purpose of a multitude as the seed of the woman is impossible without “male and female,” so, in Genesis 1, the marriage of a man and woman becomes a symbol of Christ and his bride. Hence, in Matthew, Christ’s answer to the Pharisees concerning divorce makes clear that marriage becomes a symbol of God’s purpose to unite faithful brethren and sisters to His Son in an eternal union. If a marriage can rightfully be dissolved — the marriage of Christ and his bride can also rightfully be dissolved, which we know is impossible.
A companion for Adam
Genesis 1:27 is amplified in Gen. 2:18-25. First, we know that Eve was provided as an help for Adam:
Gen. 2:18 “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him.”
Eve was not to be an “help-meet” for Adam, but “an help, meet for him.” The word “help” comes from a root to surround, that is to protect or succour. We find it in Psa. 33:20 and 121:1,2: “my help cometh from the LORD,” “he is our help and our shield.” Other versions translate the meaning of “meet for him” as follows:
Roth.: “as his counterpart”
RV mgn.: “answering to”
RSV: “fit for him”
Young’s Literal: “an helper, as his counterpart”
Eve was to be a counter-foil (the complementary part of a bank cheque or receipt, which duplicates the information); a reflection of Adam; a complementary part of him. (Incidentally, this illustrates why marriage outside the truth is not acceptable: an outside “help” from the world could in no way reflect or complement the spiritual attributes of a brother’s character).
“Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”
The marriage bond is so strong, that once we marry, our spouse’s family becomes our blood relatives.
Gen. 2:23: “And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
To be of someone’s bone or of his flesh was a common Old Testament expression to denote kinship, or a blood relationship (see Gen. 29:14; 37:27; Judges 9:2; 2 Sam. 5:1).
When a husband and wife have children, the blood of the parents flows in the veins of their offspring. Nothing can change this relationship except death, when the relationship ceases. The parents may disown their son or he may disown his parents, change his name and never see his parents again. No matter. He still has a blood relationship to them and will have until he dies. This relationship extends to successive generations; to grandchildren, etc. But, scripturally, it also extends to other family members, besides the immediate members by birth. It extends to persons who become related to the family by marriage.
Hence, we have a remarkable passage in scripture which forbids any sexual relationship with “next of kin,” even though the family connection is only by marriage. The passage forbids sexual relations due to a blood-relationship which is equivalent to the marriage bond of Gen. 2:23: “flesh of my flesh.” This significant passage is found in Lev. 18:6-18.
Lev. 18:6: “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness. I am the LORD.”
In the phrase “to uncover nakedness,” nakedness (Heb. `ervah) comes from a root “to make bare” and means nudity. The general usage in the Old Testament is of nakedness, or moral uncleanness with the connotation of improper or unlawful sexual relations. However, the phrase “uncover nakedness” would appear to have a more explicit reference to sexual intercourse, as we see by the following:
NIV: “have sexual relations”
NEB: “no man shall approach a blood relation for intercourse.”
Moffat: “None of you shall approach any woman near of kin to you, to have intercourse with her.”
Jerusalem Bible footnote: “could mean sexual intercourse.”
Theological Wordbook of Old Testament: “denotes sexual intercourse” with a further note: “nakedness cannot be tolerated outside proper sexual relationships.”
In this passage we must ask ourselves: Why these prohibitions? They cannot be solely concerned with sexual liaisons with a married person because that would be adultery, punishable by death. The answer is found in a close examination of the phrase “near of kin”:
“near of”: Hebrew sheer= flesh (see KJV mg. “remainder of his flesh”). Gesenius — “a relation by blood;” Strong’ s — “kindred by blood.”
“kin”: Hebrew basar: same word as “flesh” in Gen. 2:23,24. Theol. Wordbook — “In Hebrew the word…can mean…blood relations.”
Rotherham renders “near of kin” as “near kin of his own flesh.” The Jerusalem Bible footnote to “near of kin” reads: “literally, ‘of the flesh of his body.’ To express relationship the Hebrews spoke of an identity of blood, flesh or even bones (Judges 9:2), an identity perfectly achieved in the husband and wife. For this reason the prohibitions that follow (in Lev. 18), whether concerned with blood-relationship or relationship by marriage (vs. 8,14,16) are all grouped under the prohibition against incest.”
In Lev. 18:6, then, the phrase “near of kin” is made up of two words for flesh and is almost identical in meaning to “flesh of his flesh” in Gen. 2:23. Further, both words for flesh (sheer and basar) refer to a blood relative as the above references show. Yet in our Levitical passage (vs. 7-19), most of the relationships are what we today would recognize as blood relatives (father, mother, sister, uncle, aunt, granddaughter, etc.) there are several associations which exist only because of a marriage and are not blood relationships (such as daughter-in-law, sister-in-law and step-relatives). Nevertheless the prohibition applies equally to these marriage relationships because, scripturally, they are just as binding as a blood relationship.
This very significant point, in the light of our study on marriage, is that in God’s sight marriage creates a blood relationship comparable to “flesh of my flesh” in Genesis 2:23.
The relationship with a spouse’s family by marriage has the same force as the direct family or blood relationship by birth. All were considered blood relationships; all were blood relationships that can only be dissolved by death.
Woman created out of man
Finally, quoting from Gen. 2:23 again: “And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
We note that “Woman” (Isha) is the same word as “wife” in v. 24. Just as in Gen. 2:9 man was made out of the ground, in v.10 the river flowed out of Eden and in v. 19 the animals were formed out of the ground, so, in v.23, Eve was taken out of Adam; his blood flowed in her veins.
Gen. 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
We note two important points: 1) This passage cannot be limited to Adam because he had no father or mother in the natural sense. Marriage, then, becomes a divine institution for all men in all ages. 2) The union of a husband and his wife (Adam and Eve) took place before death entered the world (in Genesis 3), therefore, marriage was intended by God to be “until death do us part.” “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” declared Jesus to the Pharisees in Matt. 19:6. All mankind are descended from Adam and Eve; the standard set in the garden of Eden for the first marriage applies to all marriages in all time and in all places.
Confirmation from the apostle Paul
In quoting Genesis 2:24, in his letter to the ecclesia at Ephesus, the apostle Paul goes on to write in Eph. 5:32: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the ecclesia.”
A “mystery” is a secret known only to the initiated. Paul confirms the principle we established at the commencement of this study, that the union of Adam and Eve becomes a type of the marriage union between Christ and his glorious bride, the ecclesia.
In this section of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul constantly establishes the union of Christ and the ecclesia as the standard for husband and wife: Eph. 5:22: “…as unto the Lord”
v.23: “as Christ is the head of the ecclesia”
V. 24:”as the ecclesia is subject to Christ”
V. 25: “as Christ also loved the ecclesia, and gave himself for it”
V. 26: “That he might sanctify it (the ecclesia)”
V. 27: “That he might present it to himself a glorious ecclesia”
V. 29: “even as the Lord the ecclesia”
V. 31: (as we have already seen, he quotes Gen. 2:24)
V. 32: “I speak concerning Christ and the ecclesia”
If God permits a marriage to be dissolved, for any reason, how can marriage be a type of the union between Christ and his bride? The concept of divine authority or permission to dissolve a marriage is the complete antithesis of our understanding of the eternal relationship between Christ and the ecclesia.
Summary
- Marriage was the first covenant, instituted by God as part of His plan for creation (Gen. 1:27; 2:2324).
- Marriage is a type of the union between Christ and his bride (Gen. 2:23; Eph. 5).
- At creation, God’s purpose was not limited to one man, but “male and female,” intimating the union of man and woman in marriage.
- The Woman (Eve) was taken out of Man (Adam) – a type of the ecclesia taken out of Christ.
- The apostle Paul, in his commentary on Psalm 8 in Hebrews 2, confirms that “the man” of Genesis 1 is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will have dominion over the earth with His bride.
- “Flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23) denotes a blood, or family relationship. The principle that marriage is a blood relationship extending beyond the limits of the immediate family is a scriptural principle applicable to all couples anywhere — that is, to all descendants of Adam. Nothing but death can dissolve a blood or marriage relationship.
- a) Genesis 2:24 cannot be limited to Adam and Eve because neither had natural parents. The marriage principle became a divine institution for all men in every age. b) The union of husband and wife (Adam and Eve) was instituted before death, by sin, entered the world. Therefore, marriage is intended by God to be forever – a perfect type of the union between Christ and his bride.
- The Apostle Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 5, that marriage is a type of the union between Christ and his bride, becomes meaningless if we believe that God, at any time, allows divorce to dissolve a marriage. (He “suffered” it because of the “hardness of their hearts” –which denied them the kingdom).
- Hence, Jesus’ answer to a question about divorce: from creation on, God intended marriage to be indissoluble.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One