Children: Calling and Blessing

Rev. Griess Cory and his wife Lael present a Reformed theological perspective on childbearing as both a creation ordinance and a divine calling for Christian couples. Drawing on Scripture and Reformed covenant theology, the authors argue that bearing children is a blessing from God while acknowledging the real difficulties imposed by sin's curse, and they begin to address the question of birth control from a Reformed perspective.

God calls the Reformed husband and wife to bear children. Just as marriage is a creation ordinance, so God's calling to bear children is a creation ordinance. Strikingly, the first thing God says after He creates the woman for the man is that together in their marriage they must bear children: "Be fruitful, and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). This command necessitates a link between marital intimacy and the begetting of children if God in His providence grants that possibility.1 For the Reformed...

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