Bible Study 1: Genesis 1 (10/21-10/27)

[fifteenth]

Be fruitful

Some musings on this concept of "be fruitful and multiply." 

I think we have classically interpreted this in an overly literalistic way, thinking this is primarily about having kids. I think this is not the case and in fact that classic way of reading can be highly dangerous if we are not careful.

All throughout the prophets there is the talk of the fruit of justice and righteousness. How Israel was to bear good grapes and instead produced wild grapes or no fruit at all. 

In Paul we see the language of the "fruit of the Spirit" and it has nothing to do with kids, "love, joy, peace, patience..."

We see in Jesus talk of bearing fruit "thirty, sixty, and hundredfold" and again it has to do with multiplying and bearing the fruit of the Word of God and nothing to do with having kids.

We see the intro to John's Gospel talking about becoming "children of God" born not of "blood or the will of the flesh or the will of humans" and instead born of God. 

We see Paul talk about the blessed state of singleness and Jesus affirm this by saying those who can accept it, should. We see both Jesus and Paul be extremely "fruitful" and "multiply" while having no family or kids in a worldly sense. 

I am not suggesting that having kids is bad (I have two!), but I think it is essential that we not read a family-idolatry into the story that does not exist. Jesus attacks traditional family as an idol in opposition to God and calls us to "disown wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own selves." It is family responsibility that gets in the way of those called to the banquet of the Kingdom of God in Luke 14. Jesus says his family are those who listen to the Word of God and do it, and in the process disowns his blood family if they will not listen (a blood family which at that point in the narrative thinks Jesus has gone "insane").

That's good. I agree. In my "what does this say about how we live" section I was thinking about how God created a family (and a family business) in Genesis 1 and how that should impact my thinking about my family. But you're point is really the bigger one. God has always been, and is still, building his family. 

Originally, humanity forsook being God's children in order to go their own way. God started the rescue mission by starting small, with Abraham, and then with Jacob's family. But the point of starting small was to plant the see through which God would come to earth. Jesus brought reconciliation and an invitation into HIS family, and the invitation was not just to the small family that was the seed of the rescue mission, but to all the nations (families) of the earth. We're all invited to be apart of THE family, God's family.