GroshLink

Thank-you to Kevin for passing along Timothy Keller's The Gospel and Sex, http://groshlink.net/gallery/1/The_Gospel_and_Sex.pdf.  An excellent piece for all believers, but a particularly helpful piece for young adults wrestling with marriage and singleness.

Summary:  Christian community is to be an alternate society in which sex, money, and power are used in life-giving ways that differ sharply from the practices of the broader culture. This article addresses sex in the context of the gospel and Christian community.

Below's what Keller offers as The First Theological Purpose of Marriage.

Do you see how the gospel changes our view of marriage and singleness? Christians are to choose between marriage and singleness not for the basic contemporary motive of personal fulfillment, nor for the traditional motive of propagating family legacy. Rather, we are to marry or to remain single on the basis of which state best makes us a sign of the kingdom. Hauerwas says that single Christian adults were a startling witness to the coming kingdom in that ancient world by showing that their hope and significance was not in family or heirs but in the kingdom.

It follows, then, that being married is also a way to be a sign of the kingdom. Because one of the main purposes of marriage is to build kingdom-exhibiting community—to show the world how Christ transforms everything, including marriage—God forbids Christians from marrying nonbelievers. A Christian who knowingly marries a nonbeliever shows that his or her motive is not mission or kingdom exhibition. One of the main ways—and perhaps the main way—that married Christians witness to Christ is to show the difference Christ makes in a marriage.

This explains why many single Christian adults do not marry even though they desire to do so. If one non-negotiable reason for marriage is kingdom exhibition, then that removes a lot of otherwise good prospects! When a single Christian remains single largely because he or she will not compromise on this point, then he or she is paying a price for the kingdom and will be blessed for that (1 Peter 4:13–14, 19).  Furthermore, God will use the Christian’s singleness to minister to others in ways that married people cannot (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32–34). 

In summary, then, the purpose of both singleness and marriage is to create communities that reflect the glory of the coming kingdom of God. Every church, then, needs a combination of Christian married couples and Christian singles. Couples and singles can minister to each other; there are advantages and disadvantages in ministry for both singles and married members. The world needs to see both.

-- Copyright © 2005 by Timothy Keller, © 2010 by Redeemer City to City. This article first appeared in The Gospel and Life conferences of 2004 and 2005. We encourage you to use and share this material freely—but please don’t charge money for it, change the wording, or remove the copyright information.