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This momentary marriage

A parable of permanence

Stuck on you!

THIS MOMENTARY MARRIAGE
A parable of permanence
By John Piper
IVP. 180 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-392-6

John Piper needs no introduction either as an author or a preacher and, in this book, written as he and his wife celebrated their own 40th wedding anniversary, he unpacks a counter-cultural biblical vision of marriage.

Written in a typically theologically clear but warm and accessible style, his target readership extends beyond married couples or those preparing for marriage to pastors, church leaders and young people, irrespective of marital status.

The reader is immediately arrested by his opening chapter entitled ‘Marriage and Martyrdom’, which is a poignant account of the short marriage of both 20th-century missionary martyrs John and Betty Stam and also Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed before his marriage. This, and the fact that each chapter is prefaced by quotations from Bonhoeffer, movingly grounds Piper’s basic thesis, viz that the earthly institution of marriage is a reflection of the permanent relationship between Christ and his church. Throughout the book he makes the point that marriage is a momentary gift, to be held loosely, and is what he terms ‘one possible path along the narrow way to Paradise’. Staying married is not about staying in love but about keeping covenant and has its foundations in the way in which Christ keeps covenant with his people.

Piper fleshes out the theological foundations of marriage in the most challenging and practical terms and covers such topics as attitudes within marriage, the roles of husband and wife, changing one’s spouse (!), headship and submission. As one might expect, the book abounds with pastoral wisdom of how to be Christ-exalting, irrespective of situation. Particularly thought-provoking and helpful are his chapters on singleness, e.g. that ‘relationships in Christ are more permanent, and more precious, than relationships in families’, the importance of hospitality and the priority of making spiritual offspring. Not all readers will be persuaded by Piper’s view on divorce and remarriage but such does not detract from the enormous profit with which this book can be read.

Kathy Cowan,
member of the church family at St. Andrew the Great, Cambridge