Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Who We Are
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 the 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.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/made-for-relationship · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Genesis 1:26-31
As you read: 'Let us make man in our image...' and 'male and female he created them': we are made in the image of a God who is relationship.
26God 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.”
27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
Genesis 2:18-25
As you read: The very first thing God calls 'not good' is isolation; He makes a helper, and the two become one flesh.
18Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
19Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.
20The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”
24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
25The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
Mark 3:13-19
As you read: Jesus appointed the twelve first of all 'that they might be with him': discipleship begins in a company, not in isolation.
13He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him.
14He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach,
15and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:
16Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;
17James the son of Zebedee; John, the brother of James, and he called them Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder;
18Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;
19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. He came into a house.
John 15:9-17
As you read: Jesus calls His disciples friends and abides in them, telling them to love one another as He has loved them.
9Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
11I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
15No 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.
16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
1 John 1:1-4
As you read: The gospel is fellowship: what the apostles saw and heard, they declare so that we share in fellowship with the Father and the Son.
1That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life
2(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);
3that 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.
4And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.
'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.””Genesis 1:26
“God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.”Genesis 1:27
“He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.”1 John 4:8
“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.”John 17:24
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.””Genesis 2:18
“Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.”Genesis 2:24
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.”Ecclesiastes 4:9
“If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”Ecclesiastes 4:12
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,”Mark 3:14
“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.”John 15:15
“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.””John 13:34-35
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.”1 John 1:3
“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.”John 14:23
“We love him, because he first loved us.”1 John 4:19
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,”Ephesians 2:19
“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.”John 1:12-13
“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.””Revelation 19:7
“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.””Revelation 19:9