Flesh and Blood
The admonishment to love one's neighbor presupposes an innate aversion in man to "serve" or "minister" outside of his own household or blood. I say "blood" because the Scriptures consistently exhort men to love and avoid mistreatment of their wives (who are not blood-related)--in much the same manner as the admonishment to love one's neighbor and enemies. There is not this type of insistence regarding children. Fathers are called to provide instruction, but little is said in terms of sacrificial love and self-denial as with wives, neighbors, and enemies. The simple reason is blood. Women are adopted into the family unit while children proceed from out of our bodies. The flip side is true also for women. Husbands are also not blood-related.
For this reason, the Scriptures introduce the concept of "flesh" in order to reform the tendencies within men and women to easily forsake one another:
We can see that "love" is far more than romanticism. Love is all about blood. At it's deepest level, i.e. self-sacrifice, is the connection between people based upon flesh and blood. However, by reason of sin, our love -- even it's most pristine expression -- is still distorted.
The Scriptures describe our love as "evil" (Luke 11:11-13 below). Therefore, God has to give us commandment to love our neighbors. Our neighbors are not blood-related, and our tendency is to forsake their basic needs when those needs intrude on us:
If my child asks me for bread, I will not give them a serpent. I cannot say the same for those outside my household--at least that's not my tendency. The Word of God must provide a new context or structure in order for me to reposition my neighbor's standing in my eyes. This goes equally for my enemies. I must be lawful to them all; but I don't have to "feel" positively about them. I might give aid to one that despitefully mistreats me in the form of a glass of water, but this in no way implies any emotional attachment, or feelings of affection for them. I must rain on the just and the unjust. I must demonstrate common grace.
The family is the basic and essential unit, or institution (I hate the word "institution." As the old saying goes: "marriage is an institution; but who wants to live in an institution?"). It is so historically. As stated above, little admonishment is needed to encourage parents to fulfill their blood-based duties to their children. Most of the Scriptural admonishments are reserved to guide us in relating to those "outside" the context of flesh and blood. This would include the organized church.
The epistles are replete with instances of Christian Jews forsaking Christian Gentiles (Gal. 2:11-16) and wealthier church members neglecting the impoverished believers (1 Cor. 11:20-22; James 2:1-6). Masters had to be encouraged to treat their servants well (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1), and servants could not despise their masters (Eph. 6:6-8; Col. 3:22-23; 1 Tim. 6:1) regardless of whether the master was a believer or not. All to say, the organized church required extensive Scriptural regulation in order to maintain order:
Within history, the family is the central garden that must be protected. Within eternity, we lose all classifications except God, man, and angels. In heaven there is no marriage or giving in marriage; but there are also no elders, deacons, evangelists, missionaries, or sessions. Therefore, the organized church and the family unit of husband, wife, and children are historical spheres. Neither has existence or primacy within eternity. In history, you can have the family without the organized-institutional church. In history, you cannot have the organized-institutional church without the family. Since it's not a question of "either-or," I hope the debate does not result in an unbiblical division between church and family. Yet, our tendency will always be "family first" because family is flesh and blood. Christ is one flesh with His church, and we are one flesh with our wives. The Scriptures have to teach us this in order for it to sink in. Children, on the other hand, are visibly flesh and blood, and you'd have to kill me before I ever return a serpent, or scorpion for my child's request for food.
And the world will be as one?
There is a sad tendency within theologically conservative circles to inflate the spiritual meaning propounded in the New Testament regarding distinctions. This has given rise to a deplorable egalitarianism that has made the world "grey" in all its aspects:
The implication of our oneness in Christ does alter the way in which we live. They do not, however, alter the distinctions of race, gender, and economics. One thousand years from now there will still be men and women, Jews and Greeks, and diverse economic standings. The question is, will we be lawful towards one another? Law is love, and all men will know of Christ when we love, i.e. deal lawfully, one another.
In general, we favor our own flesh and blood. This is right and good. We must learn to favor those who are not flesh and blood, and this means loving them through law-keeping. The only exception is the love for our spouses. Though they are not blood-related, the Bible commands us to see them as "one flesh" with us. Flesh, blood, and covenant are often intertwined. Let us cast off the doctrines of the rulers of darkness that would teach us otherwise.
For this reason, the Scriptures introduce the concept of "flesh" in order to reform the tendencies within men and women to easily forsake one another:
For this cause shall a man leave and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore are they no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mt. 19:5-6)
So ought men to love their lives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth, even as the Lord the church. (Eph. 5:28-29)Men don't hate their own flesh. They typically don't seek to cut asunder their own bodies; but because our tendency is think exclusively in terms of flesh and blood in relationships, the law-word of God reorients our thinking to see our spouses as blood. Marriages fail too easily if the partners do not view themselves as blood and one flesh. That's why couples will divorce and then fight over custody of the children. They'll part with the one that is not blood-related, but they'll fight to their last dollar in lawyer fees to retain custody of the little ones that are blood-related.
We can see that "love" is far more than romanticism. Love is all about blood. At it's deepest level, i.e. self-sacrifice, is the connection between people based upon flesh and blood. However, by reason of sin, our love -- even it's most pristine expression -- is still distorted.
The Scriptures describe our love as "evil" (Luke 11:11-13 below). Therefore, God has to give us commandment to love our neighbors. Our neighbors are not blood-related, and our tendency is to forsake their basic needs when those needs intrude on us:
Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. (Lk. 11:5-7)This parable is a lesson on importunity in prayer, for the awakened neighbor will give his friend the bread if the friend keeps knocking (v. 8). Our Lord is about to demonstrate to His disciples how much greater is His Father's love for those who ask Him. It's interesting that in making an understandable comparison to God's love, our Lord appeals to the parental love for a child:
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Lk. 11:11-13)If we'll play close attention, we'll notice that the Scriptures consistently instruct us concerning the Kingdom of God by making appeals to our most basic drives. No, not just lust, eating, sleep, or money -- we certainly do read plenty of that. Lusts do not represent structure, and structure is the context in which lust operates. Lust becomes adultery only because of the structure or context of the marriage and family. The essential structure is flesh and blood. First our own bodies, and then those who look like our bodies! You've heard it, right? Your daughter has your eyes? Your son has your mother's walk, etc?
If my child asks me for bread, I will not give them a serpent. I cannot say the same for those outside my household--at least that's not my tendency. The Word of God must provide a new context or structure in order for me to reposition my neighbor's standing in my eyes. This goes equally for my enemies. I must be lawful to them all; but I don't have to "feel" positively about them. I might give aid to one that despitefully mistreats me in the form of a glass of water, but this in no way implies any emotional attachment, or feelings of affection for them. I must rain on the just and the unjust. I must demonstrate common grace.
The family is the basic and essential unit, or institution (I hate the word "institution." As the old saying goes: "marriage is an institution; but who wants to live in an institution?"). It is so historically. As stated above, little admonishment is needed to encourage parents to fulfill their blood-based duties to their children. Most of the Scriptural admonishments are reserved to guide us in relating to those "outside" the context of flesh and blood. This would include the organized church.
The epistles are replete with instances of Christian Jews forsaking Christian Gentiles (Gal. 2:11-16) and wealthier church members neglecting the impoverished believers (1 Cor. 11:20-22; James 2:1-6). Masters had to be encouraged to treat their servants well (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1), and servants could not despise their masters (Eph. 6:6-8; Col. 3:22-23; 1 Tim. 6:1) regardless of whether the master was a believer or not. All to say, the organized church required extensive Scriptural regulation in order to maintain order:
And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when I come. (1 Cor. 11:34)Granted, fathers are not to "provoke their children to wrath" (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21), and children are to obey and honor their parents (Eph. 6:1-2; Col. 3:20). But God's order in creation consistently shows that blood and family bonds are the strongest of all. We all mistreat one another whether it be enemies, spouses, neighbors, children, or parents. However, we are typically more severe in our treatment of those outside the family. Churches will split, and spouses will divorce, but severing blood-related ties is not so easily done. This is why "step" families are usually difficult. Only the most noble, good, and self-sacrificial can make them work.
Within history, the family is the central garden that must be protected. Within eternity, we lose all classifications except God, man, and angels. In heaven there is no marriage or giving in marriage; but there are also no elders, deacons, evangelists, missionaries, or sessions. Therefore, the organized church and the family unit of husband, wife, and children are historical spheres. Neither has existence or primacy within eternity. In history, you can have the family without the organized-institutional church. In history, you cannot have the organized-institutional church without the family. Since it's not a question of "either-or," I hope the debate does not result in an unbiblical division between church and family. Yet, our tendency will always be "family first" because family is flesh and blood. Christ is one flesh with His church, and we are one flesh with our wives. The Scriptures have to teach us this in order for it to sink in. Children, on the other hand, are visibly flesh and blood, and you'd have to kill me before I ever return a serpent, or scorpion for my child's request for food.
And the world will be as one?
There is a sad tendency within theologically conservative circles to inflate the spiritual meaning propounded in the New Testament regarding distinctions. This has given rise to a deplorable egalitarianism that has made the world "grey" in all its aspects:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:28Three categories are listed here: race, gender, and the economic. The problem is that people tend to read this passage as saying "ye are all EQUAL in Christ Jesus." The word heis being used here literally means "one" as in the numeral one (i.e., set over against the "many"). The concept of equality is not relevant--at least not relevant in the way Gal. 3:28 is typically understood. We cannot confuse the political with the eternal. Despite the "oneness" in Christ eternally, there is still bond and free, Jew and Greek, and male and female. The difference is the implications for redeemed humanity in the expanded use of the law after Christ. Distinctions will remain so long as there is history. Therefore, the law of God will produce "peace," not oneness. The millennial reign is about peace, not egalitarianism.
The implication of our oneness in Christ does alter the way in which we live. They do not, however, alter the distinctions of race, gender, and economics. One thousand years from now there will still be men and women, Jews and Greeks, and diverse economic standings. The question is, will we be lawful towards one another? Law is love, and all men will know of Christ when we love, i.e. deal lawfully, one another.
In general, we favor our own flesh and blood. This is right and good. We must learn to favor those who are not flesh and blood, and this means loving them through law-keeping. The only exception is the love for our spouses. Though they are not blood-related, the Bible commands us to see them as "one flesh" with us. Flesh, blood, and covenant are often intertwined. Let us cast off the doctrines of the rulers of darkness that would teach us otherwise.
