MenuBe Fruitful and Multiply
Why did God make me? Why do I have a family? Why do we have a church? What’s the purpose?
God reveals some answers to these questions in His Word. First, let’s eavesdrop on a conversation of the Holy Trinity on the sixth day of creation:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing.’” – Genesis 1:26
So God did. Moses summarizes the creation of mankind so poetically:
“So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.” – Genesis 1:27
About this verse, Martin Luther writes: “Moses put the two sexes together and says that God created male and female in order to indicate that Eve, too, was made by God as a partaker of the divine image and of the divine similitude, likewise of the rule over everything. Thus even today the woman is the partaker of the future life, just as Peter says they are joint heirs of the same grace (1 Peter 3:7). In the household, the wife is a partner in the management and has a common interest in the children and the property, and yet there is a great difference between the sexes.”
Now imagine Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. They’ve just been created – two perfectly new, sentient beings. Immediately conscious of their own existence, they stand in awe of God who made them, in wonderment of themselves, and in amazement of His beautiful creation all around them. So what does God do next?
He blesses them. Then He tells them their purpose: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” – Genesis 1:28
God gave Adam and Eve to each other with His blessing. He encouraged them to have children with His blessing, thus blessing sex and childbearing in holy wedlock. In this way, the first family began. Likewise, the first congregation of believers was started – initially just Adam and Eve, man and wife. And lest humanity become self-centered, God gave mankind a special role in caring for the earth.
When we consider our purpose (individually, as a family or as a congregation), let us start by praying about how God has blessed us, individually and together. Where has God placed us and with whom? How can we care for them? How do we best take care of and share the blessings He has placed before us? Indeed, as adopted children of God by Holy Baptism, our greatest blessing is the life and grace given to us through Jesus Christ. Let us start to “be fruitful and multiply” by sharing Christ’s blessings of forgiveness and mercy with those closest to us.
~Pastor Nickel
