Relational Failure

Relational Failure

At the core of our being is relational purpose. Humans were created for three relationships: with God, with each other and with creation. In essence, the interpersonal relationship between Adam and Eve derived from their connectedness to God.

When God creates humanity in Gen. 1 & 2 he says not only, “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature” but God also said, “So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

And, as the biblical creation account unfolds we see that Adam & Eve’s primary work role” was to care for the garden, and all the plants and animals therein—even to the point of naming them.

Sin interrupted the relationship to God, and thus interrupted the true interpersonal relationship. Sociologists tell us that we derive our value through relationships. Thus, a young woman often views herself as others view her rather than how she truly is. The subjective criteria for value is our perception of other’s perception.

It is also worth noting, that, after the fall when God is telling them the consequences of their disobedience, each of the levels of relationship that are listed above distorted and broken:

1. Humanity’s relationship with God is twisted and bruised badly as is clearly shown in the way that Adam and Eve seek to hide from God while he is walking in the Garden.
2. The original human-human relationship is battered and bruised as seen through God’s comments regarding the woman’s desire being for her husband, but the husband lording it over her, and the pain in childbirth.
3. The relationship with creationship itself is harmed terribly as is evidenced by the adversarial relationship that would now exist between the people and the land and the animals.

Thus, we have Cain murdering Abel – perhaps because rather than deriving their interpersonal relationship from their connectedness to God, Cain tried to derive his relationship from the relationship itself. When Abel received God’s favor, Cain attempted to level the field by removing Abel rather than attempting to correct his relationship with God.

This is obviously self-defeating. One cannot derive relational value from unbalanced relationship. Sin may then be said to be the ultimate relational imbalance. Humans were created to relate to God, but in the absence of that relationship, humans attempt to substitute relationship with man. Since these relationships were supposed to be co-ordinate and sub-ordinate to the relationship with God, they are inherently unstable.

The Covenant Function

God’s solution to the relational shortcoming was the covenant. Whether it was the covenant of the Law or the covenant of salvation through Christ, the covenant’s function was to restore relationship. God was not attempting to enforce righteousness or to demand obedience but rather to restore the foundational relationship – and therein bring peace among mankind.

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Filed Under: Relational Theology

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