The Bible and the family (11)
Looking at what the Bible says about family and relationships
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Honour your Father and Mother
Children must honour parents. But what does that mean in practice? And why is it so important?
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Husbands and Wives
The Bible says that the husband is the head of the wife. But what does it mean? To understand the idea of headship, we must first understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
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Leaving and Cleaving
When a man and a woman get married, they leave the families in which they were born and a new family unit is formed. But what should their relationship be with the families they have left? Do we value our wider families as we should?
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What makes a marriage?
Family life should be a reflection of God's own Triune life. But we have to build families in a fallen world. We discover God's blueprint for marriage in Genesis. But then we have to work it out in all the messy situations of life here and now.
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Perfect happiness in a fallen world?
God's design for family life was perfect. Yet can marriage bring us perfect happiness in a fallen world? Would singleness be preferable? Paul the realist knows that marriage and singleness alike involve trouble and frustration. Yet for the Christian, there can still be contentment.