01 Dec Relationship and The Gospel – Dec 14

By Yosia Yusuf

Relationship is all about the gospel! Say what? Okay, let’s back track a little, just few thousand years back, when relationship first began. In the cool of the garden of Eden, there was a man (Adam). The dude was working hard to work and keep the garden as God instructed him too. I guess he was riding a lion back in those days because riding a horse is too mainstream. The man was doing fine and he probably had a lot of fun wrestling with a bear.

“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”” Here comes the divine intervention. God says that it is not good that the man should be alone. Have you ever stop and wonder why it is not good for man to be alone? Consider this: Adam was living in a perfect garden without sin. He can eat whatever he wants (except for one) and he is free to use his God-given abilities and creativities to work and keep the garden. What else could he ask for? And above all, Adam has God with him. Surely God alone is more than enough for Adam. But then why is it not good?

I think the author of Genesis give us a hint to why it is not good at the end of chapter 2. He says, ”Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall becomes one flesh.” This verse underlines the motive behind every romantic relationship – marriage. No one should pursue romantic relationship between opposite sex without marriage in mind. But it still does not answer our question. Why is it not good for Adam to be alone?

Fast forward four thousand years and I believe Paul gives us the answer to our question. This is what he said in his letter to the Ephesians – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”(5:31-32). Wait… I thought it’s about Adam and Eve? I thought so too. But I was wrong. When God designed a relationship, the first thing on His mind was not Adam and Eve but Christ and the church. The union between Adam and Eve is a picture of the union between Christ and the church. So why is it not good for Adam to be alone? Because it takes two to tango and by himself, Adam cannot reflect the beauty of Christ’s love for the church. Every healthy relationship begins with the acknowledgement that it is not about them; it’s about Christ and the church. It’s all about the gospel.

For those who are single, marriage is good and to be pursued but marriage is not ultimate. If marriage is ultimate, Jesus would have been married. If not Jesus, then Paul would have. But they are single. In fact, Paul says, “So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better” (1 Cor 7:38). ‘In the New Covenant, singleness is not only acceptable but also a blessed state of existence when Christ is honoured as the ultimate bridegroom and where spiritual children are produced as covenant offspring by means of discipleship’ – Gerald Hiestand. Marriage between man and woman is good; marriage to Christ is ultimate.