The concept of family is first mentioned in the book of Genesis. Even before there was sin, there was family. The divine institution of the family was placed in a sinless environment created by God. Looking at the book of Genesis in chapter one, we read that God has been very active creating many different things. He has created the heavens and the earth in such a way that they are functional, vibrant, and pulsating with life.
On the fifth day, God formed the creatures that would live upon the earth. Then on the sixth day, He came to the paramount of His creation purposes—the creation of mankind.
A number of things come out in this account found in Genesis 1:26-28. First, we see the word “Us” referring to the Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. The Trinity consists of three individual and unique persons who make up the One-unified reality of the Godhead. Secondly, we see the commission of mankind which is to bear this Trinitarian image of God. God created humanity (body,soul and spirit) to mirror Him, and then He established them in the divine institution called family to reproduce His image.
Therefore the goal of people in general, and the family in particular, is to mirror God in the visible realm predicated on His reality in the invisible. The family is to be the visible photograph of God Himself.
Simply put, the family’s mission is the replication of the image of God in history and to carry out His divinely mandated dominion (“let them rule.”) Personal and familial happiness is to be a benefit of a strong family, but it’s not the mission. The mission is the reflection of God through the advancement of His kingdom and rule on earth. Happiness becomes the naturalbenefit when this goal is being actualized.
