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Recap of Genesis 2:24-3:19
1. Marriage is a covenant before God in which a man and woman leave one relationship (“father and mother”) and establish a new exclusive and permanent primary relationship.
2. This is described as a ‘one flesh” relationship, consisting of not just sexual union but of spiritual and emotional union as well. The man and woman literally become related to one another as blood relatives. Commenting on this passage, Jesus adds in Mark 10:7-9 that they are no longer two but one, and that God has joined them and no human should separate them.
3. Genesis 2:25 is symbolic of the beauty and innocence of this one-flesh relationship. Their nakedness without shame is symbolic of their total transparency and total ease with each other. There is no distrust, no fear, no potential for evil or exploitation. There is no defensiveness, no need to win at all costs.
4. All this was lost in the Fall in Genesis three when Adam and Eve deliberately disobey God and become sinners (Romans 5:12). Genesis 3 illustrates the change that came into the creation and especially into the relationship of Adam and Eve, and their relationship with God. Their oneness was now interrupted by sin. They knew shame, lost innocence, lost companionship. They now were uncomfortable with God and with each other. Fear and distrust and a sense of the potential for evil and exploitation now enter their world. Guilt and fear and an unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions now mar their relationship with God and with each other.
