Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28
Last week we looked at the first purpose for marriage: companionship. But we see from Genesis 1 that God desires His people to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. So purpose number two for marriage is procreation. God is the One who is responsible for the family; it’s His idea. We often hear people talking about the attack on the family, and I agree that there is one because it’s God’s idea; it’s God way. A couple get married, have children, create a family, that family then develops into a larger society, and culture develops. It’s within this context of relationships that the best experiences of life happen. We were created in the image of God, and God exists in a community. He is One God, but He exists in a Trinity. There are three persons who are the One God.
Theological Puzzle
Now sometimes this is a theological puzzle for us, but if you stop to think about it, when the Bible says God is love or God is light or God is eternal or God is holy, whatever the Bible says God is, it means that God has always been that way. God doesn’t change. He wasn’t love for a recent period but prior to that, He was something else. He has always been love. But think about this, how could you say something was love if there was no object to love? So the doctrine that God is love necessitates the doctrine of the Trinity. If God was just a singular being who existed entirely by Himself, how could He be said to have been love? Love must have an object.
What God Delights In
When we understand the biblical picture of God as a Trinity, as a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we realize that’s where love eternally existed. God created us so that we could experience the love that comes from relationships, the love that comes from family, the love that comes from community. So there is the procreation element to it; yes, God wants us to be fruitful and multiply, but God doesn’t command everybody to get married, so therefore, it’s not absolutely necessary to have children; but it is something that God delights in; it’s something He created. Some have mistakenly thought that unless you were having sexual relations in order to produce children, then that was somehow sin; so you could never have a sexual experience with your spouse simply for the enjoyment of it. But that is not a biblical idea. That was a philosophical idea imposed from the outside and unfortunately stuck with the church for many centuries.
God Can Fix It
Next week we will move on to the keys to a God-glorifying marriage. But for now, be reminded that God intended your marriage to be a blessing, for you and your spouse and for the world around you. If we do it His way, it’s good. And even if we mess it up, He can and will fix it. But we need to come back to Him and to His Word and say, “Lord, I want to start doing things the way You said to do them.” When that happens, it is amazing what God is able to do to restore.