Order of creation?

The idea of the “order of creation” interests us particularly as the principle of social ethics. In the human sphere there are certain natural constants, which at the same time belong to the sphere of human freedom and decision. For instance, God has so created man and woman that their sex union can only be accomplished according to the purpose which He has laid down for them in the monogamous permanent marriage. It is part of the very way in which God has created man and woman, in the unity of personal-being and the sex-nature, that only monogamy corresponds to the destiny given to man by God. Therefore Jesus Himself bases the indissolubility of marriage upon the order of creation. Why the “monos” in monogamy is so essential whereas in other circumstances, for instance, in friendship, it is not essential, cannot be understood save in the light of the truth that God has created sex. In creating man and woman God has appointed a definite order for the sex relation, an “order of creation”. The same is true of the relation between parents and children, and thus of the Family. Marriage and the Family are orders of creation, and, indeed, precisely in the similarities and inequalities which these involve. Thus the question can never be put thus: Are there orders of creation which constitute an ethical standard? but only: What are they? and which orders are merely due to human convention? How far the principle of the order of creation extends for the formation of a social ethic cannot be discussed here. Here all we need to do is to stress the fact that this principle as such—whatever its validity and its limits may be—is a central idea in the Biblical doctrine of Creation as indeed it has always been so used by the Theology of the Church at all times. It is not difficult to show that if one transgresses this law in ethics one does not go unpunished and also the other fact, that it can easily be misused, But abusus non tollit usum [abuse does not cancel appropriate use].—Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, 25–26 (emphasis original)

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This sums it all up for Brunner: "Thus the question can never be put thus: Are there orders of creation which constitute an ethical standard? but only: What are they? and which orders are merely due to human convention?" (emphasis original)

Nothing like hitting nail on the head is there? And this is about 80 years before the current arguments on sexuality and gender in our culture.
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