According to the Scriptures

Damian Kyle: Marriage is an institution of God. He created it. Marriage does not exist in human history as an invention of man. It is an institution of God. And because it isn't an invention of man, man has no right to alter it in any way or to change it or to redefine it.

Guest (Male): It has been said that a woman marries a man hoping he will change. Meanwhile, a man marries a woman hoping she won't. All kidding aside, since God invented this institution, what is he hoping for in marriage? Well, we'll find out here today on According to the Scriptures with Pastor Damian Kyle.

Welcome to the program. We're developing our series called Gleanings from Genesis. And we're in a place where God tells us about how it all started and why. From Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18, here's Pastor Damian.

Damian Kyle: And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

And so Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on him, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.

And then the rib, which the Lord had taken from man, he made into a woman, and brought her to the man. 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. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

This section of scripture provides us with a divine revelation into the creation of Eve as a helper compatible to Adam. And it also instructs us concerning God's establishment of his institution of marriage. I don't know if you've given it any thought, but it is important to realize that Adam and Eve were not created at the same moment in time.

Nor were they created in exactly the same way. They were each created on the sixth day of God's creation. But as we have already studied, Adam was created first, formed from the dust of the earth. Chapter 2, verse 7: And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man, that is Adam, became a living being.

Eve was created subsequently. It is important, I think, to realize that Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 are not conflicting accounts of the creation account. They are complementary. Genesis chapter 1 gives us the view from 30,000 feet. It gives us the overview of the creation of Adam and Eve and all the other aspects of creation.

And then in Genesis chapter 2, God narrows the focus down to certain aspects of the creation that are important to him that we would understand those things, and for which he realizes we need a little bit more elaboration. And so that's what chapter 2 is about. Now, let's formally head into examining this Genesis account in terms of the creation of Eve and God's institution of marriage that followed immediately.

In verses 18 to 22, we have the creation of Eve. And it's important to realize that the creation of Eve in terms of God's plan, it was always God's intent. And the process that resulted in her creation began with a particular observation that God made concerning Adam. And that observation is in verse 18: It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.

And so you notice that it wasn't Adam who made this observation concerning himself initially, but it was God. And this was certainly true of Adam in the sense that he was in need of a helper comparable to him. Important in the sense that alone he couldn't possibly obey the command that God had given to Adam and Eve, and that is to be fruitful and multiply. Chapter 1, verse 28.

But it's also generally true of most men that it's not good that we should dwell alone or be alone. We need to be married. And not merely for the sexual relationship that is only to be expressed within the parameters of a commitment of marriage, but also for the companionship. The provision of, when it's done God's way, the deepest spiritual and emotional and intellectual and physical human relationship a person can experience in life.

It is important, though, to realize that there are exceptions to the rule. The Apostle Paul was not married. Jesus, of course, was not married. Though, without any kind of apology at all, he spoke very favorably of those who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. Not physically, but the person who decides, "I am not going to marry, whether male or female. I am not going to marry in order that I might fully be able to give my life to God's calling upon my life, his purpose for my life, without the distraction of marriage."

But all of that requires a very specific calling from God, a very specific grace from God. And Paul recognized that in writing to the church at Corinth: "For I wish that all men were even as I am myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that."

I think of one of my mentors, one of three mentors in my life, the three greatest mentors, a gentleman by the name of Bill McDonald. And he lived to the age of 90, served the Lord virtually all of his adult life. One time I was with him with a friend who was single at the time, and we were at Bill's house for lunch.

And my friend, being single, he asked Bill why he never married. Was it something that he determined to do as a commitment to God or the kingdom of God? And Bill responded and he said, "You know, I was always open to it. It just never happened. I never met that woman." And sometimes that can be true of our lives as well.

But barring a gift of celibacy for the sake of Christian work, it is generally not good that a man should be alone. Now in verses 19 and 20, the means by which God made Adam aware of his need for a wife, a helper comparable to him, is an interesting one. And God causes this to dawn upon Adam in a unique way.

So he set Adam to naming the animals. And the naming of the animals by Adam was an expression of the fact that man has dominion over the animal kingdom, over authority. And so he set to naming the animals, and presumably these animals are brought before Adam in pairs. And so he begins to name them one after another.

And as he does, it begins to dawn on him that he lacks the companionship that he is seeing in each of these pairs of animals and that they enjoyed. And so as he named and he named and he named and he named, perhaps with a hope as perhaps a line is formed that somehow something is going to emerge that is going to be a helper that is comparable to him, and she will appear in the line, in the process.

It is important to notice that the purpose for which Eve was created is given to us in the account long before she is created in the passage and before we're given the details of her creation. Notice there's a phrase that's repeated, first in verse 18 and then in verse 20, and she is described as a helper comparable to him, that is to Adam.

The Hebrew word for helper there is ezer. Helper is a very, very accurate translation of the word. One commentator put it this way: He said the word essentially describes one who provides what is lacking in the man, who can do what the man alone cannot do. The man is thus created in such a way that he needs the help of a partner. And that is very outstanding in terms of what God is communicating in all of this.

It is also important to understand the term of helper is not at all intended to be, nor should it be, demeaning to women in any way. Because that word as it's used in the Old Testament, it's usually used to describe God himself in his role as a helper to man. And it can never be demeaning to have any role or characteristic of God himself ascribed to us.

The word for comparable is kenegdo. And that word means according to his opposite or over against or counterpoint. It means that the woman would share the man's nature. That is, that whatever the man received at creation, she would have all of that as well.

And yet be a complementary counterpart. She would be something that he cannot quite be, and he will be to her something that she cannot quite be. In other words, needing one another in order to fulfill God's purpose for mankind. Again, meeting the need for companionship in man and in woman.

And then also the spiritual and intellectual and emotional exchange that happens in a relationship, the marriage relationship. But then all of this is certainly has a focus upon the sexual pleasure related to married life and the ability now that they would have to obey God's command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Now, Eve's creation here is described for us in verse 21 and then into verse 22. God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, removed one of his ribs and then closed him back up as good as new. So here we have God as surgeon and anesthesiologist and puts him all back together. And then God formed Eve from the rib that he had taken from Adam.

And so unlike Adam, Eve was not created from the earth, but she was created, God tells us, from a rib taken from Adam. It's very clear that in whatever God took from Adam in order to form the female, Eve, it involved both bone and flesh. Because you notice that in verse 23, Adam declares upon seeing Eve, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

And so God might have formed Eve around the rib itself, or had taken as we're able to now clone animals and do all kinds of things on the basis of DNA and cells and this kind of thing. He certainly doesn't need our science to accomplish that. All we know is that by virtue of doing it this way, there's an absolute relationship between the two.

God could have just readily spoken Eve into existence out of nothing. But he doesn't. He creates her out of Adam. And he does so because clearly he wants to communicate something to us. You should know, concerning this creation of Eve, that there is an old story of a conversation between God and man.

God said to Adam, "I'm going to create a beautiful woman for you to love you, to care for you, to complete you. But it's going to cost you an arm and a leg." And Adam thought about it for a while and he said, "What can I get for a rib?" I don't believe the story at all, not for a moment. I just wanted you to know of kind of thing that's floating around out there.

I'm glad you could laugh. Nobody can laugh anymore today, can they? Nothing about marriage, nothing about sexism, nothing about anything. It's the most sterile environment that these politically correct idiots are imposing upon all of us. And an intellectual sterility is as well. So keep your sense of humor. You're going to need it.

I sense a rant coming and I don't want to go there on that. I think that Matthew Henry got a lot closer to the truth when he wrote of this. He said, and every handling of this passage, Matthew Henry ought to be quoted on this. And perhaps you've heard it before, but it'll only make you realize how much that's true.

He said the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam. Not made out of his head to rule over him or out of his feet to be trampled upon by him. But out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. And that quote is an absolute classic and there's a reason for it, because it clearly states some of the reasons why God created Eve out of Adam.

Now you notice in verse 22 that having created Eve, God then presented Eve to Adam. And he can hardly contain his excitement. I mean, his excitement over this helper comparable to him fairly leaps off of the page. And when he declares, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This is what I've been looking for. And she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man."

And so here you have the first recorded human words in the Bible. And he declares, "This now, this is something completely different from the animal kingdom that has been paraded before him. This is what he's been waiting for. This is the completeness that he's been longing for. Much better than a giraffe."

And so he declared her to be bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. And her name, there is no truth to the rumor that he called her woman because he saw her and said, "Wow, man." I heard a preacher say that one time. There's a reason that he calls her woman.

And the name that he gave to her, it means out of man she shall be called woman, Isha, because from man, Ish, she was taken. In other words, she is spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and physically qualified to be his mate. To be exactly as God intended her to be, and that is a helper comparable to him.

Now, what's fascinating that God does here in the passage is that upon creating both of them, he then immediately institutes this thing called marriage, the ordinance of marriage. And you notice that Adam finishes his speaking there in verse 23. And it's important to realize that what is recorded there in verse 24 and verse 25 is not a continuation of what Adam is saying.

In verse 24, you now have the Holy Spirit breaking in and continuing the entire narrative. It's God speaking. And what is God speaking about? What he speaks about immediately is the establishment by God of the institution of marriage. That's what verse 24 is all about.

Jesus affirmed this when he was confronted by the Pharisees in his day and they brought him a question from the law of Moses about divorcing. And under the law of Moses, there was a provision that was given that you could divorce your wife as long as there was a certificate of divorce, as long as it was a formal procedure.

And they wanted to draw him into what was a great controversy among the religious in those days. And so they posed the question to him. And Jesus refused to be pulled into the controversy and made it a teachable moment. And so instead of going back to the law of Moses to argue things from where they went, Jesus, when he talked about marriage with them, he went all the way back to these verses in Genesis chapter 2 and declared, in essence, that this is his standard for marriage.

And what is to be the standard in terms of marriage for all people, but certainly for his people, those that claim to be Christians. Mark chapter 10, I'll read the exchange to you: "And Jesus answered and said to them, the Pharisees, 'Because of the hardness of your heart, he, that is Moses, wrote you this precept, this provision for divorce with a writing of divorcement. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. And for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together let no man separate.'"

Jesus goes back to this place in the as a definition, the definition of marriage in the Bible. I think it is vitally, vitally important today that everyone, and certainly every single Christian, understands that marriage is an institution of God. To understand that he created it.

Marriage does not exist in human history as an invention of man. It is an institution of God. And because it isn't an invention of man, man has no right to alter it in any way or to change it or to redefine it. Man is certainly free to go off and come up with something on his own, to invent something of his own in this regard, call it whatever he wants.

But human beings, mankind, you and I are not free to co-opt marriage from God and then make it whatever we want it to be. And certainly the fact that same-sex marriage was made legal by the United States Supreme Court in 2015 testifies to the fact that among a majority of the Supreme Court at the time, and no doubt a majority of the citizens of the United States, no longer view marriage as an institution of God.

In fact, they don't even view it supremely as religious, but as something that has become largely non-religious and secular. And it speaks to how biblically illiterate this nation has become on all issues and how rapidly we are jettisoning this once biblical foundation for our morality and for our laws.

I think it's also important to realize that in our redefinition of marriage in the United States of America as we have done now to include homosexual couples, and to even endorse now homosexual marriage, much less as we've done put it on an equal footing with heterosexual marriage, that we have now entered into completely uncharted waters in this regard.

This has never been done before in human history. In all of the debauchery of the Greek Empire, of the Roman Empire, of civilizations before and after, in all of the wickedness of Rome, the sensual and sexual depravity of Rome and of so many of her emperors and all, no one ever in human history has stepped forward and then decided to redefine marriage.

You think about it. I mean, it's stunning where we sit in human history, especially with some knowledge of the Bible and the Old Testament. Never before in human history has mankind felt brazen enough or arrogant enough to take their rebellion against God to this place. And yet we have as a nation, and it will not have a good ending.

Guest (Male): Pastor Damian Kyle ending today's teaching on a sobering and foreboding note. But forewarned is forearmed, right? And a call to be ready for what's ahead. We'll hear more about that next time here on According to the Scriptures.

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