Transcript: Lesson 20 - Biblical Rationale

Friends, welcome. In this unit we're thinking about how the story of Scripture and the story of  who we are as, as God's image bearers, as people who are called to make God, present make  God visible to those around us how that story comes into contact with the story of our broader 

culture, which is, in many ways, very much a story of naturalism a story that all we are is, is  mere matter, we're just biological machines so to speak. And so bodies don't really have a  meaning sexual union doesn't really have a meaning. But, but in this video, I want to push  back against that and think about the biblical rationale and the theological rationale for  understanding how children are an essential part of sexual union and marriage, of  understanding how procreation and sexual union and marriage are all connected. And so I  want to think for a couple minutes about the biblical rationale here. I mentioned this last time, but one of the first things we see God actually saying to humanity, is this in Genesis 1:26,  through 31, God says, Be fruitful and multiply. And what I think this tells us is actually that  children are an inherent part of marriage. What I mean by that is that, you know, in our world  is very individualistic, we think about marriage as being two people who make the decision to  that they're going to join their lives, and they're going to love each other, they're going to  care for each other. But ultimately, marriage is this sort of individual personal decision that  we make. And because of that, then children don't really have anything to do with that, like  children are a nice add on to marriage, if that happens, or if God leads or if there's that, that  blessing. But we don't really think of children as flowing from the logic of marriages of  children's flowing from the logic of sexual union. But what you see in opening chapters of  Genesis is very clear as God creates the world. He created with this, this abundance, this this  life giving capacity that not only does does God create life, but he creates the ability for, for  life to be passed on and continued. And that this is a key part of how we understand who we  are as human beings, how we understand marriage, and sexual union. And so rather than  seeing children as just an option that you can maybe opt in or opt out of, I would argue that  scripture sees children as an inherent part of marriage. And so, in many traditional Christian  wedding ceremonies, there's actually a couple of lines that allude to the reality of children as  as God blesses and makes clear even at on the wedding day, that children are an inherent  potential, an inherent possibility of this relationship. Another piece of the biblical rationale, in  Genesis 4:1 , it actually talks about, it says, in some of your older English translations that  says, Adam knew his wife, and she bore a son. And what's interesting about that, is that the  Hebrew word yada that gets translated to know part what I think is so significant about that is it shows that in sexual union, there is this communion of persons, there's a, there's an  intimacy, and there's a connection there where, as Adam knows, and loves his wife, sexually,  but also more than sexually, what happens, then is a new person comes from that, that as I  personally invest in my spouse, as I love them, as we engage in our life together and in sexual union, that that deep personal love actually produces a new person. This is part of the  mystery in the miracle of life, that, that as God created us, that life actually comes forth out  of this love, that husband and wife have for one another and that they share a third  dimension of the biblical rationale here, I think, is just understanding the nature of male and  female bodies, that we can think about this in doctrinal terms as general revelation that, that  God reveals something to us, in the world around us. It's not just in Scripture, but he also  speaks to us through how he's made us and through how he's made the world. And so part of  what we see then is that this, this reality that men and women are different biologically,  sexually, physically, and that part of that difference and that differentiation is actually  necessary to bring forth new life. And so the reality of marriage and family is linked to this  procreative capability, that part of how God has made us is that we are husband and wife to  one another. But we are also then able to become father and mother to our children in and  through the relationship that I, that I have to my spouse, it's very important to note, you  know, this is not a, this, this institution of marriage and family is not something that, you  know, a government institutes or a government has the ability to invent. Rather, it's they're  woven into how God has created us as male and female. So that part of what it means to be a husband and wife is connected to what it means to be a father and a mother, it actually takes  husband and wife, male and female, to produce children, for life to go on for society to go on  for culture to go on. A fourth and final thing I want to note is that procreation is in many ways,

the one flesh seal of marriage. And what I mean by that is, we've seen several times how  scripture talks about the one flesh relationship of the husband and wife. And that certainly, I  think, refers to sexual union and the reality that in marriage, we are united as two persons.  But think about this, when my, when my parents were united in one flesh, part of the result of that is me that I, in some sense, embody their one flesh, I am literally one flesh, a unique  person who carries in myself the reality of both my father and mother. So that includes  obviously, a biological component, the DNA and the genetic makeup, it also contains the fact  that I'm, I'm raised by my parents, and they pass on dimensions of their, their personality and their life and their love to me. And so really rare to see children as this actual embodiment, I  think helps us to understand that they're, that they're this kind of seal, that I've alluded to this before, but that even though my parents are divorced, there's a sense in which they are  united forever, in the reality of the children who come from that relationship, that that can't  ever be changed. And there's that kind of permanence to that reality. And so, from for all of  these reasons, I think it's important to see that scripture itself sees children as being a crucial  part of the meaning of marriage, and the meaning of sexual union. A couple of other things,  then, with regards to the theological rationale, I want to dig back into a couple of different  terms that we've used already and try to connect them here to how we think about  procreation and the reality of children. We mentioned earlier in an earlier unit, that sexual  union, and marriage is this covenant sign that it's a it's a visible reality that points to Christ  and the church. And so it's, it's not just a It's not just a physical reality, but actually has this  deep theological function that points us back to who Jesus is. And here, think about these four terms. I said, all of these are ways to think about body language and and what we're saying in sexual union. And so for these to be truthful signs, we need to say, Does our sexual union sort of live up to these criterias? Is it free? Is it total? Is it faithful, and is it fruitful? That again, part of Jesus' self giving love for us is that it produces new spiritual life. And one of the ways that  sexual union and marriage serve as a sign a pointer to the fruitfulness of life giving love of  Jesus is it actually brings forth literal life, that this new biological life or this new life of a child  points to the reality as Jesus talks about that we must be born again. And we must be born  from above born by the Spirit, and that he does that in and through His work of salvation in  us. And so when we think about how sexual union and marriage is supposed to function as  this sign and pointer, we start to see that fruitfulness is actually a really important part of how that language of the body points to the work of Jesus in His fruitfulness for us. And so part of  what this means I just want to I want to clarify that maybe how to think about this. I think  there's a contrast between a natural family planning approach versus contraception. Now,  some of you might not be familiar with natural family planning. There's some links to it in the  reading for this for this unit. But I want to just highlight a main difference here. The broader  culture says, in essence, if you're going to have sex, go ahead and go ahead and have sex,  just be sure you're using contraception so that you're not at risk of having children. And  natural family planning says, All of these things go together free, total, faithful, fruitful. So if I  am going to be truly loving toward my spouse, then sexual union should at least be open to  the possibility of children being born. But the point here is not that every time you have sex, a child should result from that. And so part of what natural family planning does is it it actually  utilizes the regular patterns of a woman's cycle. And again, there's more details about this in  the in the reading. But part one natural family planning doesn't says if, if we think that God is  calling us at this time not to have children, then this means that we would actually abstain  from sexual union, at least during times when a woman is more fertile during during the the  particular monthly cycle, or however long your particular cycle is. And so natural family  planning seeks to keep all of these different signs together seeks to keep the language of the  body consistent, so that if I am going to have sexual union with my spouse, it's open to the  possibility of children. And it's recognizing and trying to recognize the value of consistency  here that our that our bodies say something that sexual union says something, and that our  openness that our hospitality toward children is actually a key part of our sexuality, a key part of our marriage. And so even though this this, my guess is, is that for many of you, this might  sound very foreign, it might sound very strange. And what I've seen is that many churches  don't really talk about this or think about this as a component of marriage or sexuality. But I 

would just encourage you to, you know, to prayerfully ponder this and to, to reflect on this a  little bit. Think about what, what does sexual union say what, what does it mean? How is it  connected to children? And what does it look like to be hospitable, even in sexual union in  marriage? In the next video, I want to think about some common questions that arise some  potential objections that people might make, you know, more in favor of utilizing  contraception. And again, I'm doing all this trying to try to speak out loud and process how we connect to these things in the way that Scripture does. Not so that we can be legalistic or say  like, well, this person use contraception and that they're wrong and bad and evil. But try  actually ask, what does it look like from a positive angle? What does it look like to embody the story of the gospel of God's love for us. His self giving sacrificial love. That part of that  includes recognizing this meaning to our bodies, a deep meaning to sexual union, that we  that we don't just take the liberty with our bodies to say, my body is mine. I can do with it  whatever I want, but rather, we start to see how our bodies are incorporated into God's larger  story. So next time, we'll dig into some of those questions and reflect on some of those  common objections. So until then, blessings