2. Image of God - Male and Female

Before we go into the liturgy I would like to look back into the concept of man. Only then will we be able to understand the full implication of the liturgy. Genesis 127 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Three times in the Bible, this verse is repeated- twice in the creation story and once by our Lord himself.  Notice that the sentence is complete without the last addition "male and female created he them".  Evidently God was giving a very important detail in adding this part.  Neither man alone nor woman alone is an image of  God.  God's image is complete only in the combined male and female. But we don't see Eve in the picture until later.  Adam means mankind and he was both male and female together until God separated Eve out of Adam. The reason for this separation was that Adam could not find any fellowship with any other creatures.  So God decided to  separate Adam into male and female.  This again is typical of the image of God.  A monistic God is a Nirguna Brahman - without properties, without qualities.  He is a totality within himself  and complete within himself.  Properties are after all defined only in terms of relations.  This is probably what God meant when he declared to Moses  "I am that I am"  Yet God is not an inert inactive God.  He enters into relationships and has a personality and a character.  This is possible only if God himself is a family - a composite being.  One God, but three persons.  As Saguna Brahman he can be experienced.  What then is the ultimate reality?  What is the relation within the Godhead of Trinity?  Love is the root of this relation.  So we are told in one word "God is Love."  Most people including the Islam have difficulty in understanding Trinity. But the essential point is that if God has to exist and is made known and understood, he cannot be a self existent monistic God. If has to be pluralism. Trinitarian theology is supported by the Bible in its usage of plurals in defining God. A pluralistic God consisting of separate persons in one Godhead cannot exist in a fallen nature. The fallen nature relies of independence and selfishness. There is competition and self-glorification within the fallen godhead. This is what is reflected in the Roman gods and the Hindu gods and the gods of all ancient religions. It is not selfishness, self-glorification nor competition but love that make the relation between persons within the Godhead. It is this image that we humans wear. When the Bible repeats three times "God created man in his own image - male and female created he them." It is these profound relationships that it emphasizes. Out of the three occurrences - twice the following conjunction is seen.

Gen 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh.
This was at the time of separation of female principle from Adam. This is considered by the church as the first marriage occasion where God announces the intent of marriage. What God announces here is that even though Adam and Eve were two persons they were to be one in spirit and flesh. In this sense they represented the concept of one in many of the God.

Jesus himself reiterated this idea when he was asked about the law of divorce.

 Mat 19: 4-6 (also Mark 10:5-7) "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

The idea here seems to be that the image of God is not complete in either man or woman but in the marriage. That does not mean they cannot act independently. They can and well within God's plan as the persons within the Trinity act independently. But marriage is indeed the ultimate fulfillment of the image of God in man.

The process of marriage and union is given a threefold step: Leave, Cleave, Become one flesh. The family is a closed unit within itself. It is sacrosanct and have the first priority. In the list of priority it comes just after God. Everything else is subordinate to it. Why because it reflects the image of God.

The only image of God on earth as a true picture is the loving unit of family. When the image was broken God took all the pain to redeem it through the cross. When a marriage is broken, when the family is fragmented; we are breaking the image of God. We are making the image of God into an image of base gods - images not only the creatures but also of the fallen creatures. This is what the Bible define as idol worship.

Rom 1:21 - 28 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

All perversions of sex are idol worship and God hates them.

Mal 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the Lord.

The eastern church tradition is vastly different from the western tradition in that the liturgy and ceremony reflects this aspect more clearly. There are no "I will" or "I do" in this ceremony. This is because Eastern Church do not see marriage as a contract between two individuals. Within the marriage individuals cease to exist independently. To maintain the integrity and remain faithful is no more an option. It is a command from the Lord. This is a covenant between God and two people who becomes the image of God. God has everything at stake here. So do the Church of God.

There is no exchange of rings between the couple. The Priest as a representative of God places the ring on the fingers of the couple. Marriage is an election. God has chosen these two people to be his image on earth. This new family, the beginning of the image of God is elected to be the molecule of the fabric the church of God - the congregation of the redeemed - the body of Christ,

Divorce and perversions in sex - homosexuality, lesbianism and idol worship are simply distortions of God's image and breaking up of the body of Christ. This brings with it , its own punishment.

1 Cor. 3: 16 - 18 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise.

The marriage therefore is a sacrament and a covenant between the sovereign god and unworthy humans elected by grace to be partakers of the divine.