What does it mean that we were made for relationship?
We were not made to be alone. We bear the image of a God who is love and who lives in relationship, and He made us for relationship: with Himself and with one another. Scripture moves from 'it is not good for man to be alone' to the gospel, in which we are brought into the very fellowship of God and called to love one another. Our deepest loneliness is healed in belonging to God through Christ and to His people.
This question arose from studying What does it mean to be made in God's image? and Who is Jesus?.
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What the Scripture says
We bear the image of a God who is love
'Let us make man in our image,' God said, and He created them male and female in His image. We are made like a God who is love and who, before the foundation of the world, lived in the love of Father and Son. To be made in His image is to be made for love and for relationship: the capacity for communion is not an add-on to being human; it is what being human is for.
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
'It is not good for man to be alone'
The first thing God pronounced 'not good' in all of creation was solitude: 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.' And so woman was made, and the two, leaving father and mother, become one flesh. The wise man agreed that two are better than one, and that a threefold cord is not quickly broken. From the very beginning, we are created for companionship, first in marriage and by extension in the family of humanity and the family of God.
Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Jesus chose us for companionship
Mark records that Jesus 'appointed twelve, that they might be with him.' Before He sent them out, He called them in. And He told His disciples, 'No longer do I call you servants... But I have called you friends,' and He commanded them to love one another as He loved them. Following Christ is not a solitary ascent; it is life in His company and in His family.
He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach,
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The gospel is fellowship with God
John declares what he saw and heard 'that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.' This is the heart of the gospel: not only forgiveness, but communion. Jesus says that those who love Him will be loved by the Father, and that He and the Father will come and make their home with them. We love, because He first loved us: our capacity for love is our maker's gift, and He has acted in Christ to give us the relationship we were made for.
that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
We love him, because he first loved us.
And into the family of God
Because we are made for relationship, God does not save us into isolation but into a household. We are 'fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,' and John writes that as many as received Christ were given the right to become children of God. The end of it all is a wedding: the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready, and 'blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' We were made for love, and God has been working from the first page to the last to bring us home to it.
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”
He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.”
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Verses to meditate on
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
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