The Purpose of the Christian Family

The family is the first institution established by God after the creation of man. In Gen 2:15, we read that God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. The Lord looked at Adam in the garden and found that he was alone and incomplete in certain respects. He also understood that ‘it is not good that man should be alone’. So He said, “I will make him a helper comparable to him” Gen 2:18 and created a woman out of his rib.

Adam also accepted Eve by saying, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man” Gen 2:23. The first family on earth was established on that day. You may wonder why God established a family in this manner. Here are a few purposes of Christian families.

1. It is God’s Plan: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” Gen 2:24.
2. It is for mutual fellowship: God created man and found that he needed a companion, for he was created in that way. So God established marriage for fellowship. “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” Gen 2:18.
3. It is for Completeness: God found that only Christian family can meet the needs of individuals and only marriage can be deeply satisfying and fulfilling. So God wanted to make a helper comparable to man and created Eve to meet the needs of Adam Gen 2:18-22.
4. It is for procreation: God established the family for the propagation of the human race and for the safety of the children. After the establishment of the family, God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” Gen 1:28.