The author’s thoroughgoing commitment to the Word of God is transparent throughout this book. The starting point is the biblical truth about the creation of humanity as male and female, and God’s original design for marriage articulated in the opening chapters of Genesis. This is followed by a careful exposition of the relevant section of Ephesians 5, in which the point is stressed that, ultimately, marriage is intended to be a picture of Christ’s relationship with his church.
From here the author moves on to very practical considerations about married life and pulls no punches in bringing Scripture to bear directly on the subject. He is courageouslyhonest and direct.
Acknowledging his own failures, he applies the Word of God unflinchingly to various issues in marriage, such as sexual temptation, family finances, and parenting. He recognises the fallen human propensity to blame the other on the basis of unrealistic expectations, and faces up to the need for humility, confession of sin, repentance, and forgiveness, if a healthy marriage is to be sustained.
The book finishes with a chapter devoted to the issue of culture: a Christian marriage needs to be shaped by a biblical culture which compels us to re-examine our own cultural norms. In marriage, as in the whole of life, we are not to be conformed to the ways of the world, but to work out in practice a way of operation which is shaped by the Word of God.
To add to the value of this highly recommended book: it is written by a young man who is himself in a cross-cultural marriage.
Jonathan Bayes
Stanton Lees
