The relationships we have shape us and make us who we are. Whether it’s our relations with
others or relations with God, the unique defining feature of human beings is that we are spiritual
beings with the capacity to relate in a number of ways.

The Bible is all about these relations, and it’s important that we understand what it is that all our
earthly relationships are pointing to in the greater eternal relationship with our Creator God.

21 Jun  Relations: The Creation of Relation
Gen 1:26-27, 2:23-24; Eph 5:31-32; (Isa 62:4-5; Rev 19:7)

When God created humankind in his image, he shared with us his very way of being, which is seen in the
perfect love of the Father, Son and Spirit. By creating us male and female, God initiates an earthly arena in
which we are able to exercise what it means to relate to one another and ultimately to God. The biblical
metaphor of marriage, both between a man and a woman and between Christ and the Church, has much to
teach us about God’s desire for all kinds of relationships.

28 Jun  Relations: The Goodness of Sex
Gen. 2:22-25; 1 Cor. 6:12-17

Sex is good because it is part of God’s design for humans as sexual beings. Adam and Eve were not
ashamed of their nakedness because their union was pleasing to God. We are not to shun aside the
physical reality of our being for the spiritual; our physicality is God’s design and even Jesus stepped into it.
Sex is an act of ultimate intimacy, and is pleasing as a generous expression of the union between a man
and his wife as each one gives him/herself to the other.

5 Jul  Relations: Restoring Purity
Eph. 5:1-21; 1 Jn. 3:1-3; (Psalm 51)

Sexual temptation is a struggle for humans, whether married or single, because we are all physical beings,
which may be why the Bible deals with the issue of sexual immorality in the life of the church on so many
occasions. In Christ, we have the assurance that we are justified despite our brokenness and our failures.
Purity is not just possible, it is offered to us by the grace of a loving God.

12 Jul  Relations: What Every Single Needs to Know
1 Cor. 7:7-9; 1 Th. 4:1-12

We know that it is God’s plan for people to come together and that marriage is good. But the Bible also
says that singleness is good, and that it is a gift. Concerning those for whom it is God’s will to be single,
there is much to be said about how that gift should be put to good use in the church and how Christian
relationships go beyond romance being the default level at which they take place.

19 Jul  Relations: What Every Husband Needs to Know
Song of Solomon; (Eph. 5:25-30)

The Song of Solomon is a book all about celebrating and promoting intimacy between a married man and
woman, in which the God who designed marriage and sex guides us on how to enjoy such intimacy. What’s
important is the love behind the sex, and the Christian husband has a responsibility to touch the heart and
mind of his wife before touching her body.

26 Jul  Relations: What Every Wife Needs to Know
Song of Solomon; (1 Pet. 3:1-5)

Wives are instructed to offer a beauty of the inner self, which is of great worth in God’s sight. Just as a man
is told to love his wife, so a woman is instructed to love her husband and submit to him. This love is mutual
and self-giving, and points us towards the greater submission to our Lord Jesus who has demonstrated the
love of God in the most self-giving way possible.