How Singleness Is Good
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00:00:02.580 | - In the last podcast, we talked about Adam's singleness
00:00:07.100 | and why it was not good.
00:00:08.620 | And of course, this raises the question
00:00:10.100 | of whether singleness itself is intrinsically bad.
00:00:14.100 | What would you say to singles,
00:00:15.340 | especially to those who may be called
00:00:17.000 | to a life of singleness, Pastor John?
00:00:19.540 | - No, I wrote two chapters on singleness
00:00:22.580 | in my book on marriage.
00:00:23.900 | And the reason I did it is because I knew
00:00:27.500 | that if you're gonna celebrate marriage,
00:00:29.760 | you're gonna have single people reading it and saying,
00:00:32.440 | oh, so that's the great life, and I get the other life.
00:00:37.440 | And my point there was, no, there are glories
00:00:43.780 | that can be shown in marriage
00:00:46.760 | that can't be shown in singleness, given.
00:00:50.040 | There are glories that can't be shown in marriage,
00:00:56.000 | but only in singleness, given.
00:00:59.720 | If God has called you to a life of singleness,
00:01:03.080 | there are ways in and by that singleness
00:01:06.960 | to display the glory of God, which married people can't.
00:01:11.960 | It does involve other people.
00:01:15.280 | So my point stays the same.
00:01:17.720 | God created the other.
00:01:20.200 | And I said other partly because I knew
00:01:24.760 | that it's not just wife, it's not just husband,
00:01:28.840 | it is other human.
00:01:30.760 | And single people are called into a life
00:01:33.940 | of receive one another as Christ received you
00:01:37.920 | so that with one voice you may glorify him.
00:01:40.680 | That is talking about the true eternal family.
00:01:44.680 | And one of the things I stressed in those chapters was,
00:01:48.180 | marriage is temporary, the church is eternal.
00:01:52.060 | So the relationships we form in the church
00:01:57.180 | with brothers and sisters who may be single last forever.
00:02:02.180 | The relationship between a man and a woman in marriage
00:02:04.880 | doesn't, Jesus went out of his way to say,
00:02:07.840 | in the resurrection there is neither marrying
00:02:10.800 | nor giving in marriage, which is why my dad
00:02:13.320 | will not be a bigamist in heaven,
00:02:15.560 | even though he had successive wives.
00:02:18.560 | 36 years with my mom, 25 years with my stepmom.
00:02:23.360 | He answered that question by saying,
00:02:25.000 | there won't be any marriage or giving in marriage.
00:02:27.460 | So thank you Tony for the clarifying question.
00:02:31.180 | Yes, singleness doesn't mean one has embraced
00:02:36.180 | a lesser life because there are ways to display
00:02:43.140 | the corporate glory and the glory of dependence on God
00:02:47.540 | in unique ways in singleness that can't be done
00:02:50.560 | by husband and wife.
00:02:51.840 | - Thank you Pastor John.
00:02:53.700 | And those books in particular are titled,
00:02:55.920 | Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,
00:02:57.880 | see the foreword, which is titled,
00:02:59.320 | For Single Men and Women.
00:03:00.480 | And also see the book, This Momentary Marriage,
00:03:02.920 | A Parable of Permanence, which was written by Pastor John
00:03:05.600 | and his wife Noel.
00:03:07.080 | See especially chapters nine, which is titled,
00:03:09.400 | Single in Christ, A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters.
00:03:12.320 | And also see chapter 10, which is titled,
00:03:14.780 | Singleness, Marriage, and the Christian Virtue
00:03:16.760 | of Hospitality.
00:03:17.820 | All three of these chapters and both of these books,
00:03:20.880 | Recovering Biblical Manhood and This Momentary Marriage
00:03:24.620 | are both available in their entirety for free,
00:03:27.300 | completely for free, for download,
00:03:29.220 | no strings attached at desiringgod.org.
00:03:32.340 | I'm your host Tony Reinke, thanks for listening.
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