The church and the family (Part 4)

This series of posts is organized as a response to the following statement at a church's website:

"We believe that the family is the first and most important institution that the Lord created. Moreover, following God the family should hold the highest priority."

In my first post of this series, I asked a series of questions regarding this statement. Since then, I have replied to one of those questions per post as I considered the relationship between the church and the family. In this post, I am responding to two questions. Here is the first question regarding the statement above:

-- Does this mean the government is more important than the church, since God established it (Gen. 9) before either Israel or the church and this statement appears to be based partly on chronology?

I don't think any believer would contend the government is more important than the church. The government is a vital institution God created for the good of humanity. It serves an important role in society, including the punishment of evil. Its importance and virtue do not mean it is superior to the church, however. Nor does its priority chronologically make it superior to the church. (I guess it is possible some would argue the church came first in time because God chose those who would make it up before the foundation of the world, but I am speaking here of the inauguration of the church on earth.)

This means we all should be careful about using the chronology argument regarding the family and the church. If the argument for the superiority of the family is based on chronology, then the same argument would logically apply for the superiority of the government to the church.

The chronological argument for the family's superiority over the church does not seem to be based on logic or Scripture.

The next question is:

-- Does this mean an institution based on flesh and blood is more important than one based on the blood of God the Son?

Now we are cutting to what seems to be one of the most important issues regarding this topic. The nuclear family comes into existence by the marriage of a man and a woman and grows through birth or adoption. The spiritual family comes into existence by the gracious work of God to provide new birth to sinners who enter His household by repentance and faith.

The death of Jesus creates God's family. It does not create a nuclear family. As Christian parents and grandparents, we all desire for and pray for our children and grandchildren to trust in Christ and His atoning work so they would become part of God's eternal family. We cannot guarantee that will happen by virtue of them being born or adopted into a Christian family. No, entering God's family requires His grace.

When we think this way about the church and the family, it seems difficult to me to think we would assert the nuclear family is more significant than the one Jesus established by His sacrifice.