God had given the first man a perfect environment to live in. When Adam was created he was in a right relationship with God, his environment and the animals but he still wasn’t complete. God had said that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone. God first brought all the animals to Adam to name, after that he made a helper for him.
Helper
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Relationships
God created people to live in social relationships with one another and the most fundamental of those social relationships is that of a man and woman in marriage. There is something very special about the marriage relationship that causes men and women to more fully reflect God’s image and to fulfill the command to fill the earth.
God calls marriage a “one-flesh” relationship. If you are one flesh with someone that means that you are united with them in a way that can’t be broken.
In a one-flesh marriage relationship, a man and a woman become united in purpose. Whatever one does affects the other. For a one-flesh relationship to work the way God intends both the man and the woman have to give up selfish interests and do what is best for the other and the marriage. Once a man and a woman are joined together in marriage they cannot be what they were before, two separate individuals going their own ways. They become linked together in a special way and their focus has to change.
If you were to break a one-flesh relationship, it would be like tearing your own body apart. It would leave a terrible wound and the body would never be the same again. (An illustration of this would be to take a yellow ball of clay for the man and a blue one for the woman and blend them together into one ball. The ball becomes green and the yellow and blue clay cannot be separated out again.) Other relationships may come and go but a one-flesh relationship is to endure for a lifetime.
Mark 10:6-8 says, 6″But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.’ 7`For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh. ‘So they are no longer two, but one.
Different From One Another
God designed a man and a woman to be different from one another. He created them to come together in marriage to bring honor to him and establish a secure family in which to raise children. When a man and a woman are joined together under God and are committed to one another in a lasting one-flesh relationship, both families and society benefit.
Whenever people follow God’s design there is blessing both for the individual and for the larger society. This is how God designed marriage to work from the beginning. He is the author of marriage. When society redefines what marriage is, it defies God and his authority. Rebellion against God never brings blessing.
- Overview Questions: Why did God create the woman? (Note: The word for helper is the same word that is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe the relationship of God coming to help man and a king coming alongside to help another king.) How does the biblical definition of the word helper related to a woman’s role in relationship to her husband? How did God make the woman? How is that different from how God created other living things? What is the importance of that? What is God’s plan for a man and a woman?
- Thought Questions: In terms of commitment, how is the marriage relationship different from other relationships? Why does the marriage relationship have to be different? What happens to families when couples don’t view marriage as a lifetime commitment? What happens to society when couples don’t view marriage as a lifetime commitment?
- Prayer: Thank God that his plan is always a good one. Thank him for how he designed a man and woman to come together and make a stable family and therefore society. Pray for the families in your church that the marriages would be strong in the Lord and that they would contribute to the well-being and stability of society and bring honor and glory to God.
- Week’s Memory Verse: Mark 10:6-8
6″But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.’ 7`For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh. ‘So they are no longer two, but one.
What does it mean to become one flesh?
What is special about the marriage relationship?
In marriage a man and a woman become one flesh.