What is the Family For?

Text: Genesis 2:18-25

The previous two weeks have covered what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. Today we cover what it means to be a family. I actually had to wrestle a bit with whether to ask “What is marriage for?” since you might think I’ve skipped over that question. But as I thought about the main points of both previous sermons, it became clear that asking “What is man for?” and “What is woman for?” already took up the question of “What is marriage for?” at least in part. In both of those sermons we showed that the Scriptures identify man as “husband” and woman as “wife.” The new element we will add today is precisely the relationship between husband and wife which produces children and creates a miniature society.  In other words, we will be discussing what it means to be a family. And so we ask our third big question in this series, “What is the family for?”

What is the Family?

Before we can get to the question of what the family is for, we have to first identify what the family is. This is, once again, controversial. Today’s progressive ideology claims for itself the freedom to define and redefine the family. Primarily, it identifies the family as a wholly voluntary and often temporary arrangement entered into primarily for the purpose of maximizing individual happiness.

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Fatherhood and Creation Ordinances

Another theological point that is of fundamental importance for Douglas Wilson’s Father Hunger is the creation ordinance of providing and protecting.  Wilson states:

The role of a father as a provider and protector is not an arbitrary assignment given to an arbitrarily selected group, regardless of any other consideration.  Here is the mandate given to Adam (Gen. 2:15)–God wants men both to work and protect.  Work has to do with nurture and cultivation, while protection refers to a man’s duty to be a fortress for his family.  We find a working definition of masculinity in the first few pages of the Bible. (18)

“Creation ordinances” are sort of the Christian version of “nature.”  But by nature, we don’t mean “just the way things are,” but rather, “the way God programmed things to be.”