A basic Christian primer on sex, marriage and family life. Article 13 – Birth control and infertility treatment.

May 25, 2020 by

by Martin Davie:

God’s command to have children.

As we have noted repeatedly in the course of this series of articles, for human beings to live rightly means for them to live in the light of the fact that they have been created by God as men and women, in his image, and after his likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). In the final article in this series we shall look at what this means in relation to the two issues of birth control and infertility treatment.

Having declared that human beings have been created by God in his image and likeness, the Book of Genesis immediately goes on to say that, as those who have created in this way, human beings are called by God to reproduce. In the words of Genesis 1:28:

‘And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’’

As the second half of this verse indicates, for human beings to live as God’s image bearers involves them acting as God’s stewards, ruling over the rest of creation on God’s behalf, and in order for this to happen each successive generation of human beings is called to beget more human beings to fulfil this calling (hence the command to ‘be fruitful and multiply’).

What Genesis also goes to say, is that God created marriage between one man and one woman to be the context in which the command to be fruitful and multiply is to be fulfilled. That is how it was with the first humans, Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:1-2, 4:25, 5:1-3) and that is how it is mean to be ever thereafter.

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