In Matthew 19:11-12, as Jesus upholds marital permanence he also teaches that some choose to remain single. Christologically Jesus ties the created order to the new age by his teaching and redemptive work on the cross, and by his resurrection. Jesus understood the nature of male lust (Matthew 5:28) and taught that these temptations must be dealt with by confronting the evil within (Mark 7:20-3), yet Jesus own life was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus regarded women as equal at a time when they didn’t share such a status (Matthew 5:31-32 Luke 7:36-50). Jesus knew the pain of going without the security and comfort of a home and family (Matthew 19:29). He displays the full range of emotions including love of friends (John 11:36, 15:15 19:26). He is the complete and whole single person.Īs a human male, Jesus is completely sexual. The central figure in the New Testament is a single man, Jesus is the model of perfect humanity. The gospels give concrete examples and how he relates to his family, to his friends, and to individuals, both male and female. He is the complete and whole single person. Jesus is the perfect person, who is perfectly single. The incarnation of Christ and his bodily resurrection critiques dualistic anthropologies and affirms the body as essential to human personhood. Yet we know that marriage is stitched into the blessings of God contained in the overarching promises of God, so that this starts giving us some hints at what might happen in the New Testament.Ī Trajectory Moving through the New Testament Yet we know that marriage is stitched into the blessings of God contained in the overarching promises of God, so that this starts giving us some hints at what might happen in the New Testament. The Old Testament era see people place marriage to such an ideal as an essential relationship, that singleness may be seen as not a gift as such. In the Old Testament context, to marry and have children is a sacred duty, and to not undertake this is either culturally an anomaly or tragic. Jeremiah doesn’t have a wife (Jeremiah 16:2), Ezekiel’s wife dies (Ezekiel 24:18) and we see their God given role is to communicate as prophets how much God suffers because of his burning love for his people (Jeremiah 18:13-15 Ezekiel 24:13, 24). We observe there is a select group of singles. In the patriarchal structure, single people would remain in the family for their protection and their livelihood. The continuity of God’s future blessing is linked to one’s children, and to be without children was seen as tragedy. There is a strong connection between the themes of offspring, land and name (2 Samuel 9, Ruth 9:4-10). On its own it’s also an age where the pain of singleness is more acute due to the blessing that is tied to family. The Old Testament era is one in which the promise of blessing given to Abraham points forward to a time of blessing for Israel and eventually all nations. Not only within the marriage of man and woman are there distortions on God’s intention for his created order of marriage (Genesis 3:16), but there is also now a distortion to what is intended for the single person. Painful singleness can be related beck to the effects of the fall. With the entry of sin thereafter is death and the disruption of relationships between the sexes. Within this family unit, single people experience the security of the extended family and the community. God creates marriage a secure family unit for the establishment of tribes, cities and nations. This is the start of human community with family, friendships, communication and co-operation. In Genesis 1-2, the pinnacle of the one flesh union of marriage is explained in Genesis 2:24. If the apostle Paul says of the single state that the person who does not marry does even better (1 Corinthians 7:38), then what is the theological blessing of singleness?Ī Trajectory Starting in the Old Testament Every person born onto the earth was once single, it is an aspect of life that at some point everyone has experienced to a certain extent. Under the grace of God, humanity enjoys many blessings. The Apostle Paul was single, and wrote about having learned the secret of being content, so for our love of single sisters and brothers among us I pray that this essay would be equipping and encouraging for all our church. There is so much to explore and discover in the Bible on contentedness, including our experiences of singleness. Last week’s sermon we heard how we can learn the secret of being content in whatever situation we find ourselves in.
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