In the Beginning God Created...the Family (Gen 1: 1.27 ff)

To Be or Not to Be: The Family, then Life and the World Itself

Abstract

The starting point of this article are the ecclesiological-christological marital instructions (Ef 5: 21-33) in the household and family set of rules (Ef 5: 21-6,9) founded in the biblical theology of creation. The first part of the study contains a brief reference to the family situation at the time of the writing of these rules and also in our own time. The second section elaborates the understanding of marriage and the family in two biblical texts on the creation of marriage and founding a family: a priestly text (Gen 1: 26-28) and a Yahwistic text (Gen 2:7-25). According to these narratives the married couple, or rather the family, is the completion of God's act of creation. To the man and woman, to him and her, who are equals in their distinctiveness, the married couple, God's image, his co-worker on earth, the Creator has entrusted the world with a twofold blessing which is directed toward life in two ways – through procreation and safeguarding of the earth as his own home and God's home. God's creative blessing is directed in fact toward every married couple for all times. According to the Bible, therefore, the family has no alternative. In fact the survival of the family means also the survival of human life and the world itself.