Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression per biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Peter 3:1-7

The family is the most basic and important unit in society. In our world today there are many attempts to reshape and redefine what a family is and what the role of the family is. The reason for this is God designed the family to be the strength of a society and in order to reshape the society, you have to reshape the family.

God designed the married couple (man and wife) to be the foundation of the home. Genesis 2:24. When a couple works together to help each other grow spiritually and have the same values for relationships and money it provides a strong unit.

The home was designed to be the primary teaching place for the children. Deuteronomy 6:6-7. Biblical teaching should be done in the home first and then in the church. This has been an area of disappointment as many families have failed to take responsibility for this and have pushed it to the church. Expect the teaching that is done in one or two hours at the church to take the place of near-constant teaching at home.

The Bible has much to say about the relationship between the husband and the wife. This relationship was meant to be a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the Church. Ephesians 5:22-33. One of the challenges has been inconsistent teaching on the roles of the husband and wife. An overemphasis on the submission of the wife to her husband with a lack of teaching on the submission of the man to Christ created a toxic environment in the home and has led many to seek their understanding of marriage outside of the church.

The Bible says that children are a gift from the Lord. Psalm 127:3. The world has come to view children as an inconvenience and a drain on finances. The effort required to raise them has made many choose not to have children at all. Children are aborted for the sake of convenience while many struggles with infertility. We need to once again value what God values.