God's Good Design: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality

by D. Michael Clary

How can Christian men and women live faithfully in a world confused over sexuality and gender? Surely we must be reminded of what Scripture teaches. Yet as God’s design for sexuality is being suppressed and denied in the modern world, we need to hear it articulated in a fresh and accessible way. God’s Good Design presents the historic, biblical view of sexuality in a manner that is appealing even to those who have been conditioned to believe it is scary or oppressive. Readers will be persuaded of the goodness of God’s design through straightforward biblical reasoning, personal illustrations, practical applications, and lots of “I never thought of it that way” insights.

“The modern conversation on biblical sexuality is dominated by either politically correct social justice warriors or over-the-top shock jocks. Clary’s plain spoken approach is refreshing and helpful. There are no cheap shots but neither are there any pulled punches.”
–Michael Foster, pastor, East River Church, Batavia, Ohio; author, It’s Good to Be a Man

“Michael Clary has written a profound and important book. In it he addresses a subject that many powerful and influential people wish he hadn’t addressed. I wish those people were just outside the church, but unfortunately, they’re in it as well. He has had the temerity to speak clearly, and persuasively as an advocate for sexual sanity in an insane time. He’s joined a small resistance movement by doing so. I’m pleased that he’s quoted me—but he also quotes a number of my friends and acquaintances. That says something. There aren’t many of us. A few years ago, it seemed like there were many men and women who could be counted on to endorse sanity. I’m sad to say that has not proven to be the case. But you hold in your hands an invitation to join our intrepid band as we make an appeal for moral and biblical sense in a world of sexual nonsense."
–C. R. Wiley, author of The Household and the War for the Cosmos and In the House of Tom Bombadil

“God the Father. Male and female he created them. Jesus as the bridegroom to his bride, the church. All throughout Scripture, we see God’s creational design for the two sexes. Yet our culture has so suppressed the significance of manhood and womanhood that they are now not just interchangeable but exchangeable. Michael Clary offers a deep, biblical corrective to the gnostic thinking that has plagued the Western world for at least six decades now. The irrefutable truth he presents takes the American church to task for its complicity in suppressing God’s good design and reminds us of our call to be distinct from the culture in the matters of sex and sexuality.”
–Megan Basham, reporter for The Daily Wire

“God’s design really is a beautiful design. Those given eyes to see it will come away from Michael Clary’s strong book thinking just that. In these packed pages, you'll find many insights here, much pastoral wisdom, and a lot of courageous care for Christ’s church. This is not a book that shames and scorches the reader; it’s a book that tells the truth, but always points us to the upward call of God in Christ. We live out God's good design entirely, it turns out, by God's amazing grace.”
–Dr. Owen Strachan, Provost, Grace Bible Theological Seminary; author, The War on Men

Genres: Christian, Theology, Family, Marriage, Gender, Cultural

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2023

Reviews

[ThePrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer. Unlike many other practical theology books published by the modern evangelical community, Clary writes 1) for his immediate church context, and 2) for evangelicals with some semblance of intelligence. Rather than a short tome easily completed in an hour, Clary has clearly devoted some time to establishing that this book is thorough and meaningful. He fills in gaps where other books have latterly missed out, particularly in his chapter that addresses singleness. I like that he operates presuppositionally rather than trying to convince his audience, as some evangelicals tend to do. This book is far less of a one-off apologetics piece than it is a tangible compilation of advice and counsel for different ages and stages of life. I shall look forward to future works by Clary, for although he has a simple style, his content is by no means simple. Recommend.

[Jessica Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Automatically my top book on biblical sexuality. Clary writes a beautiful positive vision for God’s good design of sexuality. Very pastoral, lots of scriptural basis for his positive arguments, truly wonderful.

[Rusten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best single volume I have read that addresses the subjects of human sexuality, masculinity, femininity, fatherhood, motherhood, family, singleness, roles of men and women in the household and in the church, LGBTQ stuff etc. in one single volume.

Clary is wise and biblical and he speaks timely truth into our current widespread Cultural (and ecclesial) confusion.

The whole thing was a breath of fresh air.

[Brittany Schwind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most important books that Christians in our current culture should read! He truly highlights the beauty of God's good design, along with practical ways that all Christians can embrace and apply it in their lives. Highly recommend!

[Claudia Rivera Guevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Headship is a masculine calling. Beginning with God’s cosmic household, continuing through Adam’s fallen house, and ending with the righteous house of Christ. And this pattern of masculine headship was written into the created order.”

Comprehensive, practical, and saturated with Scripture! When I finished, I could only think of Paul’s words, “this mystery is profound.” Indeed it is, and God’s design is perfectly good!

I heartily recommend this book!

[Kalman Buterbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to say exactly what I think of this book. While he often takes things to more extremes than I do, I think I ultimately agree with most of Clary's conclusions. However, I am not a huge of fan of the way the book is written. I appreciate the recognition and emphasis on gendered virtue, but Clary's tone can be very off-putting and comes off as inconsiderate even to those who tend to agree with him. Definitely not a book I would recommend to someone wrestling with the challenge of these topics.

Additionally, Clary seems to muddle the line a bit between inferences from nature and the teachings of Scripture. Many of Clary's teachings, while generally seeming to be correct, seem to rely primarily on his own deductions from nature and are not directly taught in Scripture. Certainly, it is not at all wrong to make inferences about God's design from what we observe in the world (see 1 Cor 11:14), but we must be very careful not to hold such teachings with same weight as what is clearly taught in God's Word, and I didn't feel like this book did the best job of making that distinction.

Bottom line: helpful reflections on God's good design of sexuality, but I think there are much better books on the subject.

[Garbanzo Beans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book! So many books/sermons/podcasts on this topic do not come close to presenting a positive beautiful case for biblical sexuality. Clary shows the reader how beautiful God’s design for sexuality is, and that is how we can wrap our heads around the extreme sinfulness of the sexual distortions in the world today. The positive vision for the design of God is much needed in western Christianity today. Thank you Mr. Clary for a wonderful addition!

[Cole Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read on one of the most important issues of our day

[Cory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers masculinity, femininity, marriage, and family. Clary weaves helpful insights from Doug Wilson, Michael Foster, Zachary Garris, Nancy Pearcey, and Carl Trueman (among others). I’ve greatly benefited from each of these authors and Clary does a great job distilling the best of them in this volume. It might not add much to the conversation in terms of new insights, but the way it brings various theological, sociological, historical, and practical threads together makes this one of the better books I’ve read this year.

[Bradley Endsor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapter on singleness is one that needs to be read and actually taught

I have this 5 stars because there are some elements I could quibble this is a book I highly recommend everyone read

[Sean Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book and necessary read for anyone who wants to understand sexuality from a biblical perspective and be able to navigate, in a God honouring way, the mess that we find ourselves in concerning this subject in society.

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag. There were a couple very important parts I that were significantly off. But they were outweighed by the sheer amount of good, hearty, biblical wisdom. A more thorough review is forthcoming in CBMW’s journal, “Eikon.”

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of the Bible, this is the most important book The Church can be reading right now.

[Ally Frueh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m still not sure what I think of this book. I do know that I would be very careful in recommending it to others. It seemed quite biased with the author basing many of his arguments on his observations from nature and then saying its God’s way especially in the church leadership chapter. I was also quite confused in many parts of the book with the examples he gave. Maybe it’s because it’s a book and you have to make over generalizations to make a point. But it seems to me that for it to be applied to real life, much more nuance is necessary to consider each family’s different circumstances and preferences. I felt like the author was telling me it is wrong for me to be a mother working outside my home a couple days per week. He even made the claim at one point that a woman working outside the home has opposing authorities between her boss and husband. Yet that’s not the case for a man with a boss and job outside the home? Based on his perspective I’m not prioritizing my home enough.
Additionally, I really think there was an opportunity he missed to discuss how we are missing the value of the village today and moms working with their kids right alongside them. If you travel outside the US it’s so clear to see that moms work. I imagine this is what mothers have done throughout history. They just have their kids with them as they work in the field or run a shop. Or the grandparents, aunts, and friends all help out while mom goes out to work. I’d really love for evangelical books to stop telling moms they can only be a true “biblical woman” if they are a stay at home mom taking care of the kids for 8+ hours each day. He was on the right track in telling men to choose jobs that allow them to be home more often. Yet it still came across to me that mothers cannot possibly work and also prioritize the home. That’s just silly.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a very solid book on sexuality. It was balanced and cautious where Scripture warrants (ie, practical applications) and direct and clear where Scripture also warrants (warning of the dangers of sin and false teaching on a host of sexuality topics). My only minor quibble is that the book builds a lot on a vision of the household as basic to God's plan for humanity, which comes close to making the church seem like a second order priority. That's an overstatement, and Clary doesn't go that far, but I wouldn't agree with every statement about the redemptive and dominion priority of the household. But on almost every other area, this was a well written and timely book.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific. I think the author definitely met his goal of answering all of his questions (and mine) about what it means to be a human. Gnosticism and feminism were firmly repudiated, and I feel so much more equipped to answer the common challenges to the biblical case for patriarchalism. Reading this at the same time as Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self has really helped me understand how we got to this point in society, and how we are to therefore live as embodied souls.

[3TrebleMakers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

This book perfectly illustrates where our society is with sexual immorality and also the churches biblical position on it. It is also practical to help us through how to combat the deceptions of the evil one and demons that we sill come across. I recommend this book to any parents of teenagers and youth pastors.

[Will Dole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really impressed by both the clear content and pastoral tone of this volume. It's too long (read: intimidating) to become my go-to hand-out book on the subject; but it's one I will keep nearby and will encourage others to work through as well.

[Cali Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediately yes. This book used so much scripture and is one of the best theological takes on biblical sexuality I have read.