Clifford Denton traces the theme of family through Scripture, including how God instituted the family as a shadow of our relationship with him.

The theme of family is woven through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The family is at the heart of the believing community. It should not surprise us, therefore, that one of the major areas of spiritual conflict in every generation, including our own, is the family.

If we truly had the Bible as our guide at the heart of our nation, we would never have had need to address the issue of laws that liberalise and confuse the definition of marriage and the associated confusion over gender that besets our generation. We would have a clearer view of roles and relationships of fathers, mothers and children and know God's own purposes and patterns for building society's foundations on the biblical pattern for family. As a result, we would surely find God's blessings as we seek to grow together in our communities founded on strong family relationships.

Generally speaking, though there are some major warnings to heed, the Bible teaches positively, so if we study carefully and respond positively to God's teaching we do not need to dwell too much on the negatives.

There are biblical warnings about departure from God's structure of family (including taking divorce lightly, eg Mal 2:14-15; Mark 10:5-9, and wrong relationships eg Lev 18, Rom 1:26-29) which are to be taken very seriously. Thank God that through Jesus there is a path of redemption through repentance for those who have strayed. But for this study let us concentrate on the positive aspects of the Bible's teaching on family. Like all Bible themes we can trace this theme from Genesis to Revelation, through the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings and the New Testament.

Family Before Time, and Forever

There was a family before time began, including the Father and his Son through whom all things were made (John 1). Father and Son are in perfect unity and one with the Holy Spirit. There was a community in Heaven including the Godhead and the Angels - we have enough information to know about this but not enough to form a clear picture. The principles of the family of God were embedded in Creation, however, bringing shadows of heavenly reality to earthly experience.

Genesis 1 describes how God brought the animals into partnership, male with female, and mankind was made in the image of God (Gen 1:26). So began the way that God's Creation was to be ordered, finally leading to the fulfilment described in the New Testament when the family of God will be gathered to join the family of Heaven for all eternity (John 14:2-4; Rev 19:7).

The principles of the family of God were embedded in Creation, bringing shadows of heavenly reality to earthly experience.

The First Family on Earth

When Adam was created his own wife was taken out of him to be his companion in the flesh (Gen 2:18-25). Thus began the principle of family life on earth. God began with a man and a woman who were of one flesh, separated into two distinct beings, with a central purpose of reproducing themselves and populating the world. It is no mistake that multiplication of mankind requires the most intimate of relationships, intended to be maintained in holiness and purity. The unity of our Heavenly Father and his own Son was to be modeled through our human relationships as we multiplied into families.

We are so used to the way family life has been distorted by sin and through spiritual attack that it is wise to go back and consider God's first family to regain his vision for what was intended. Adam and Eve were to live in harmony with God and bring forth godly offspring, replicating the biblical principle of family into every generation (Mal 2:15).

Noah and His Family

A family was saved at the Flood. The family of Adam had multiplied and evil began to spoil what God had intended. This is described first in terms of the community breakdown when "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and took wives from them of whom they chose" (Gen 6:2). It is not easy to understand just what happened here - it could have been an interaction between natural and supernatural beings and/or a departure from God by those who knew him marrying with those who did not. Whatever this was, there was a breakdown of God's family on earth and this led to the judgment of the Great Flood.

Through God's grace, mankind continued with the family of Noah and representatives from the families of the animals (Gen 7). After the Flood Noah received the command to populate the earth once more (Gen 9:1). Through one family many new families would come – a fresh start.

Our Father Abraham

Another perspective on family came through Abraham. Abraham, our father of faith, is the father of a family from all nations. Israel, his physical offspring, became a nation built on family principles, just as the new covenant community should be. God's covenant (Gen 17:1-7) was framed in terms of family.

There follows in the chapters of Genesis a wonderful account of the beginning of Abraham's physical descendants. The account of Abraham's desire for a son and his relationship with Sarah his wife is a real account of God's building through family. The account of Abraham's servant finding a bride for Isaac (Gen 24) is a beautiful story that could even point to the Holy Spirit seeking out a Bride for Jesus.

The principles of the family being the base on which God was to build in both physical and spiritual ways is strongly evident here as the parallel themes continue to develop throughout the rest of the Bible.

The Theme of Family Develops

Here are some of the many references to follow up as the priority of family develops through Scripture:

• God's promise to Abraham is remembered and worked out in families (Ex 2:24-25, 12:1-11, Ex 24, 34).
• The congregation of the Lord was numbered by families (Num 1).
• Family framework is ingrained in the Ten Commandments – the family of God and the human family (Deut 5, Ex 20).
• The teaching programme of God is to be founded on what is done in the home. Children are to be taught the ways of God through family interaction. (Deut 6).
• The Sabbath and Feasts of the Lord are celebrated in a family framework within the covenant community (Lev 23).
• The nation of Israel was a nation of families and tribes (1 and 2 Chron).
• The Psalms give wonderful pictures of families blessed by God and needing God for blessing and protection (eg. Ps 127, Ps 128).
• God honours highly a wife who is in covenant partnership with her husband (Prov 31:10-31).
• The blessing of pure and intimate relationships as God intended are made evident in beautiful, uplifting ways in the Bible, but there is also a warning concerning perversion of the biblical order of man and wife (eg compare Song of Songs with Hebrews 13:4).

Family as a Basis for Our Relationship with God

When we study this theme across the scriptures we realise that there is something even more important than the order and blessings that the biblical family structures bring to life on earth. We, in a sense, through our family love, unity and interactions, rehearse relationship with God himself, within his eternal purposes.

Through family love, unity and interactions, we rehearse relationship with God himself.

God the Father compared himself with a husband to his people (eg Jer 3, Isa 54, Matt 6:6). If we have a pure understanding of family relationships on earth, we are more ready for those relationships to be transferred to God himself – intimate and pure. God hates divorce (Mal, Matt 19:4-6). If we are vulnerable to divorce in our human relationships, we may also be vulnerable to broken relationships with God. How much do hurts that come out of family upheavals lead to difficulty in forming relationships with God, and how much do loving relationships experienced in family life open the way to relationship with God!

With this sort of understanding we also realise that there are parallels to be drawn between parents teaching children in the home and God teaching his family through the power of his Holy Spirit (Prov 1-9). Step by step through the practices and interaction of the human family, we are being prepared for our place in the everlasting family of God.

Jesus is the head of his covenant community and of our individual families. Consider his sacrifice for his family (Heb 3:6). What does this teach us about our own families and the level of commitment that is expected? Purity of relationships in our family life prepares us for pure relationship with our perfect, holy heavenly Father (Eph 1:3-14, Rom 8:1-17).

If we have a pure understanding of family relationships on earth, we are more ready for those relationships to be transferred to God.

God's family is one body made up of Jews together with those saved from the Gentile world (Eph 2, Rom 4:12, Rom 11). The head of our family existed before time and so this family, consisting of those saved from this world through faith joined to him, has in a sense always existed. We are added to this one family as history proceeds.

How we should live on account of this is a constant theme of the New Testament (John 1, John 17, 1 Pet 3:1-7, 2 Pet 3:11). God honours a believer in the household (1 Cor 7, particularly 14) in his outworking of plans to extend his family through grace.

The Family of God

Our Bible study of family takes us from the first principles of family being at the heart of God's purpose for Creation and step by step brings us to the purpose of his preparation for his own covenant family drawn from all nations.

Paul the Apostle, with this understanding, exhorted believers to strengthen their families for the very purpose of preparation for membership of God's family. God gives responsibility to husbands and wives, and emphasises the importance of children submitting to their parents for the stability of the whole community and nation. The balance of husband and wife relationships as a model for relationship with God the Father and Jesus his Son was expounded by Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph 5 and 6). Paul pointed to the unfolding mystery of this, taking us back to the first principles of Genesis 1 and pointing to eternal purposes of God.

Step by step through the practices and interaction of the human family, we are being prepared for our place in the everlasting family of God.

Order and discipline are required in Scripture, with warnings for falling away from God's model of family, but this is not the main intent. The beauty and intimacy of the relationships that family life brings is the chief theme of Scripture.

Our families are the building blocks of the covenant community, the place where we should learn of God our Father together, so that we might ourselves be part of the living parable pointing to the relationships of God with all his people.

God's relationship with us is as father to child and husband to wife. The union of the Son of God with those he bought by his sacrificial death will be in relationship with him as a bride is to a husband. The elect of the fallen family of Adam will be redeemed as the family of God. God's intention for his people is that we build our communities founded on the family with this purpose always in view.