You would have thought that the title of this blog contains a typo. Not so, not so. Yes, in fact, I intended to spell family as "family." If you have ever heard of the word "brunch" you know it is a mash-up of the words breakfast and lunch. Thus, brunch. Can you guess which two words gets the mash-up here? If you guessed Trinity and Family, you are correct.
I am reading a book by Herman Bavinck called The Christian Family. So far so good. As Herman B explores some of the biblical foundations of family he says something intriguing about the origins of the family and it’s connection to society:
“The two-in-oneness of husband and wife expands with a child into a three-in-oneness. Father, mother, and child are one soul and one flesh, expanding and unfolding the one image of God, united within threefold diversity and diverse within harmonic unity.”
Bavinck continues...
“This three-in-oneness of relationships and functions, of qualities and gifts, constitutes the foundation of all civilized society. The authority of the father, the love of the mother, and the obedience of the child form in their unity the threefold cord that binds together and sustains all relationships within human society, including the church and state. Authority (Hebrews 12:6), love (Isaiah 66:13), and obedience (Matthew 18:1-4) are the pillars of all human society.”
You have probably heard that the family is the building block of society. Perhaps Bavinck is fleshing out this idea and giving us some practical details of how. I think Bavinck is suggesting is that a society can only be healthy when male, female, and child function as they should by God’s design.
So while it is important for males to primarily present authority and for females to present tender love it is crucial for healthy society that males are not exclusively authority but also tender, as it is important that females are not exclusively tender love but also authority...and a child is held up as an example of both.
Consider 1 Thes. 2:7
But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
Paul is claiming that he and his male team were gentle, like a mother with her children. In other words, Bavinck is saying “no man is complete without some feminine qualities, no woman is complete without some masculine qualities, and to both man and woman, the child is held up as an example (Matthew 18:3). Society is shaped by family, and family is shaped by God. This is the only hope for a healthy civilization and family as God designed is the very best and most effective way of it’s cultivation.
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