The Primal Relationship

The book of Genesis begins with "In the beginning..."  As the book of beginnings, it is truly the book of firsts.  Within those early verses is the record of the first light, the first sunset, the first moon light, the first fish, the first cow, and the first human being.  It is also the place where the first relationship is recorded.   The first, or primal, relationship is the one between the Creator and the creature, between God and the human.  Herein, is the essence of all relationships.  Everything begins here in the world of relationships.  We may have turned it into a broken relationship, but there is no way to circumvent the reality that it is the first and most basic of relationships in this world in which we live.  It is essential if we are to live well.

The second relationship is also significant.  The second relationship which came into being in this era of beginnings was the relationship between man and woman.  It was a relationship that God the Creator immediately blessed.  "...male and female He created them.  God blessed them, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply..."  (Genesis 1:27-28)  Later in the less formal narrative of chapter 2, this second significant relationship is underscored with the language pointing toward our traditional understanding of marriage.   In Peter's first letter to the Christians of Asia Minor, he addressed the marriage relationship as a relationship where one of the goals of that human relationship is to cultivate the most primal relationship husbands and wives have with God.  Wives are to live in such a way that unbelieving husbands will believe and husbands are to live in such a way that their wives will not have anything to hinder them in their life with God.  (I Peter 3:1-7)  

The next section which unfolds may not be a specific word just for marriages, but it is certainly one which captures how we are to live with one another in every relationship including this second significant relationship ordained since the beginning:  "Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind."  (I Peter 3:8)  May it be so for each of one of us as we live with God and one another.