The family was God's idea — what it is and why He made it

The Family series, part 1 of 6 · Genesis 1:26–31; 2:18–25

This series is about the structure, the relationships, and the roles in a family — what God designed, and how it's supposed to work. Before we get to husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and children, we need to answer two questions: what is a family, and why did God make it?

What is a family?

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines a family as "the collective body of persons who live in one house and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants." A family is a combination of relationships — marriage (husband and wife) and parenthood (father, mother, son, daughter). And here's a truth worth sitting with: no one person makes a family, but one person can break one.

When was the family established?

At creation. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it'" (Genesis 1:26–28). Then Genesis 2: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him... This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:18, 24).

Three things come out of those passages.

Mankind is made in God's image

Everything hinges on God's existence. I realize that's a basic point, but it's the point. Whether people like it or not, the idea of God is essential to structure, morality, and civility in a society. If there's no God, there's no judge and no justice beyond this life, and anyone is free to do whatever they want. Much of the breakdown we're watching in our own culture — in marriage, in sexuality, in how we treat children born and unborn — traces back to one root: the idea that there is no God.

And because we're made in His image, we are stewards, not owners. An owner isn't accountable for what he does with his things. A steward is responsible to the Master for what he does with the Master's things. God is Master over His creation and made us stewards of it. That one idea answers a lot of hard questions — why the devil has any power, why God allows bad things, why we'll be judged. Because it's all His, and we were put in charge of it.

God created male and female

In that one sentence — "he created them male and female" — you find God's design, His desire, and His destiny for mankind. He established marriage right there, with one man and one woman for one life. God wants people to be married. And this relationship may be the one the devil has attacked the hardest. Fewer people are getting married at all, and those who do are marrying later. "It is not good for the man to be alone." In my opinion, a lot of what's behind that trend is pornography, sex before marriage, and a lack of drive or direction in life — along with the more ordinary pressures of school, work, money, and overbearing families.

Why was the family established?

Genesis 1:26–28 gives three reasons.

To have dominion over the earth (v. 26)

Dominion means to rule. God made creation for mankind and gave it to mankind to rule over. That cuts against a lot of popular thinking that puts the earth or the animals above people. But it never gives us the right to be cruel. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10). I think it's good to know where your food comes from and what it cost — the fact that something has to die for you to eat is itself a result of the curse. The people who care deeply about creation get that part right; it just needs to be balanced with what the Bible actually says about our place in it.

To be in the image and place of God as rulers on the earth (v. 27)

An image is a representation of something. Whether or not we physically resemble God isn't the point. The point is that we were made to be His priests and ambassadors on the earth, ruling it as He would want it ruled. That's why it wasn't wrong for God to set boundaries in the garden — we were to reign as He saw fit, not as we did. And because we're stewards, we take the responsibility seriously — in our marriages, our parenting, our friendships, our work, and our walk with God.

To be fruitful and multiply (v. 28)

To have children — and to have a good number of them. Societies don't fall apart from too many children; they fall apart from too few. A country needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman just to maintain its population, and the United States has dropped from roughly 3.6 in 1960 to around 1.6 today. We were given three directives as creatures of the Creator, and one of them is to have children. "Fruitful" — you should have kids; God put that desire in women on purpose. "Multiply" — personally, I think four is a good average. And notice how the verse starts: "God blessed them." To bless is to wish someone happiness. Having children is God's desire for us, and it's meant to make us happy.

That's the foundation. The family wasn't invented by a culture or a government. God made it, on the sixth day, and called it very good. Next, how it's supposed to run.

God made the family on the sixth day and called it very good. He also made a way into His own family, and that matters, because plenty of people read something like this with a knot in their stomach. The house you grew up in was not very good. Or the one you're in right now isn't. The Father who invented all of it is offering to adopt you. Jesus died for your sin and walked out of the grave, and everyone who places their faith and trust in Him and Him alone becomes a child of God on the spot. Not a guest in the house. A child, last name and all.

If you're already in that family, do something before the week is out. Get your people in one room for ten minutes and tell them straight that God made your family on purpose and called it good. Kids need to hear that their house isn't an accident. So do wives. So do husbands.

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The Family series: Part 1 · Part 2 →