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0 CommentsRecent studies have shown that roughly half of adults in Western countries are unmarried, whether never-married, divorced, or widowed. The evangelical popular response has been to defend marriage or even to suggest that to remain single is in most cases against God’s will. Meanwhile, a new, more academic, response has been seeking to understand the meaning of Christian singleness through identifying underlying Christian assumptions and reassessing methods of reading related biblical texts.
A good example of this second group includes Barry Danylak’s book Redeeming Singleness: How the Story of Scripture Affirms the Single Life (Crossway, 2010). It is a biblical theology of singleness, which explores themes of covenant, marriage, eunuchism, and barrenness. Beginning with the Creation narratives of Genesis, Danylak analyzes God’s covenants with Israel, which are upheld through land and offspring. By contrast, the most recent covenant made through Christ is realized through evangelism – not procreation – and its rewards are imperishable, outlasting early promises of children, inheritance and earthly territory.
This study brings a challenge to our family-focused churches. Through the new covenant, Christ is every Christian’s “spouse.” While marriage is “until death do us part,” every believer is called for eternity to a single-minded devotion to Christ. Thus single people can live as powerful witnesses to this call, always standing ready for service to the Kingdom. Throughout Redeeming Singleness, Danylak gently encourages readers who are single, whether by choice or by circumstances, to grab hold of the charisma of singleness – if they “can accept it” as the Lord said – and live such a life with joy, following after Christ.Katy Wehr, Minneapolis
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