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God and Marriage
Offering a new look at the increasingly unfashionable institution of marriage, Geoffrey Bromiley presents here a timely theological study which, unlike others books on marriage, aims exclusively to relate marriage to God as Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Bromiley observes that God’s work on reconciliation makes it possible for his people also to achieve reconciliation with one another, particularly in the marriage relationship. / In addition to thoroughly discussing the relationship of the Trinity to marriage, Bromiley examines such topics as incest, adultery and fornication, celibacy, the permanency of marriage, and remarriage after the death of a partner.
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 30, 2015
I have read a ton on divorce… secular sacred… sacred that sounds secular… Gordon Wehman – almost a decade and a half ago – first convinced me of the biblical (and ecclesiastical) necessity of the permanence of marriage. It didn’t take much really – he used the bible and the church fathers.
In a time when commentaries are the sizes of tomes and at that produced in mass, anyone can spin the words of Christ or Paul (or even Moses) to say what they need.
For the record John Murray, Jay Adams, Gordon Fee, etc. – despite being ‘conservative’ make me – literally (in the literal sense of the word literal, since it is so rarely used in that sense anymore) sick and I think that these men that loom so important and tall in Western Christendom fell when they decided to weigh in and comment on divorce and remarriage… they capitulated… they failed… and I say that as a failure myself.
Protestants proclaim Sola Scriptura; then spend 45 minutes each Sunday and in their publication campaigns explaining away what Scripture says so clearly.
The best book I have read – from a practical standpoint – hands-down is Andrew Cornes’ _Divorce and Remarriage: Biblical Principles and Pastoral Practice_. First published in ’93 by Eerdmans and again reprinted by Christian Focus in 2012. It’s a bit “big”, but not hard or heavy. Well divorce IS heavy, but it’s not overly academic or inaccessible. Perhaps a bit dated with stats and when he says solicitor he means lawyer, but other than that this book has few peers if any. So incredibly spot on, sooo incredibly pastoral. Great stuff!
Another book I would call your attention to is Bromiley’s little book (circa 80ish?). Now some of you may not like Bromiley, he translated a lot of German ‘heretics’ into English – but I think he makes a BRILLIANT case for the Trinitarain reality and covenantal continuity (Christ and his people and all that) in both Old and New Testaments being that of marital permanency. Now – Jeremiah 3 is admittedly a hard passage. But God sends mixed messages at best and only deals with some of Israel AND it all needs to be weighed in the light of Hosea. Yes, I am a STRONG supercessionist (at least for the time being)… but ALL of the marriages in the Old Testament sucked. ALL OF THEM!
Overstating my case? I’ll put the burden of proof on you.
From where I sit, Israel very much played the whore… and within the patriarchs, the stalwarts of faith, we have polygamy, adultery, flat out literal marriage to a whore and so on… ALL THAT NEVER END IN DIVORCE. The men and women of faith fought through. They endured. When the experienced estrangement or separation, they emulated Christ and waited for their spouses fidelity to renew.
And how about the church… how faithful is she on a daily basis? For that matter, as member of the body of Christ, leaving aside your relationship with your spouse, how faithful are you to him(?!) on a daily basis?
Thanks be to God – for our own salvation’s sake and the salvation of our progeny – that he does not execute divorce on his unfaithful bride.
In a time when commentaries are the sizes of tomes and at that produced in mass, anyone can spin the words of Christ or Paul (or even Moses) to say what they need.
For the record John Murray, Jay Adams, Gordon Fee, etc. – despite being ‘conservative’ make me – literally (in the literal sense of the word literal, since it is so rarely used in that sense anymore) sick and I think that these men that loom so important and tall in Western Christendom fell when they decided to weigh in and comment on divorce and remarriage… they capitulated… they failed… and I say that as a failure myself.
Protestants proclaim Sola Scriptura; then spend 45 minutes each Sunday and in their publication campaigns explaining away what Scripture says so clearly.
The best book I have read – from a practical standpoint – hands-down is Andrew Cornes’ _Divorce and Remarriage: Biblical Principles and Pastoral Practice_. First published in ’93 by Eerdmans and again reprinted by Christian Focus in 2012. It’s a bit “big”, but not hard or heavy. Well divorce IS heavy, but it’s not overly academic or inaccessible. Perhaps a bit dated with stats and when he says solicitor he means lawyer, but other than that this book has few peers if any. So incredibly spot on, sooo incredibly pastoral. Great stuff!
Another book I would call your attention to is Bromiley’s little book (circa 80ish?). Now some of you may not like Bromiley, he translated a lot of German ‘heretics’ into English – but I think he makes a BRILLIANT case for the Trinitarain reality and covenantal continuity (Christ and his people and all that) in both Old and New Testaments being that of marital permanency. Now – Jeremiah 3 is admittedly a hard passage. But God sends mixed messages at best and only deals with some of Israel AND it all needs to be weighed in the light of Hosea. Yes, I am a STRONG supercessionist (at least for the time being)… but ALL of the marriages in the Old Testament sucked. ALL OF THEM!
Overstating my case? I’ll put the burden of proof on you.
From where I sit, Israel very much played the whore… and within the patriarchs, the stalwarts of faith, we have polygamy, adultery, flat out literal marriage to a whore and so on… ALL THAT NEVER END IN DIVORCE. The men and women of faith fought through. They endured. When the experienced estrangement or separation, they emulated Christ and waited for their spouses fidelity to renew.
And how about the church… how faithful is she on a daily basis? For that matter, as member of the body of Christ, leaving aside your relationship with your spouse, how faithful are you to him(?!) on a daily basis?
Thanks be to God – for our own salvation’s sake and the salvation of our progeny – that he does not execute divorce on his unfaithful bride.
May 18, 2017
A very different book on marriage. He basically just goes through four stages in biblical history and writes a biblical theology of marriage. He starts with creation and Genesis (with the marriages of the patriarchs), then goes to marriage in Israel (with marriage in the law and then the prophets), then he goes to marriage and Jesus, and lastly he talks about marriage and the direction of the Spirit (meaning, in the NT epistles).
I give it four stars rather than three because some of his detail and treatment of marriage is simply very well done. He is able to connect and summarize the theme of marriage throughout the Bible very well. This in itself is an impressive and helpful task.
Some of his applications (albeit few in number) are also very helpful and encouraging.
It is, however, a pretty dry and dense book. Short, but difficult to read at times.
Nevertheless, it was a good read and he accomplished what he set out to do, namely, provide a biblical theology of marriage and letting that alone impact how people view marriage.
I give it four stars rather than three because some of his detail and treatment of marriage is simply very well done. He is able to connect and summarize the theme of marriage throughout the Bible very well. This in itself is an impressive and helpful task.
Some of his applications (albeit few in number) are also very helpful and encouraging.
It is, however, a pretty dry and dense book. Short, but difficult to read at times.
Nevertheless, it was a good read and he accomplished what he set out to do, namely, provide a biblical theology of marriage and letting that alone impact how people view marriage.
March 7, 2018
The single best book I've read on marriage.
August 25, 2012
This is one of those little books that turns out to be a big blessing. It's a little different from most other books on marriage in that it is strongly doctrinal and not so much advice. There are certainly practical aspects but it is put upon a strong foundation.
Bromiley develops a biblical theology of marriage in four parts—God the Father and marriage, God as the husband of Israel, God the Son and Marriage, and God the Holy Spirit and marriage. The chapter on Israel is outstanding. He traces the rise and fall of Israel from the perspective of their practices concerning marriage.
The number of books on marriage has to be nearing infinity and much of them range from worthless to harmful. The bad marriage books turn out to be nothing but manipulation manuals or technique how-to's. There is a place for some of that, but only if you have a solid theological foundation to stand on. Bromiley does a lot of work here to put some rock under your feet. I highly recommend it.
Bromiley develops a biblical theology of marriage in four parts—God the Father and marriage, God as the husband of Israel, God the Son and Marriage, and God the Holy Spirit and marriage. The chapter on Israel is outstanding. He traces the rise and fall of Israel from the perspective of their practices concerning marriage.
The number of books on marriage has to be nearing infinity and much of them range from worthless to harmful. The bad marriage books turn out to be nothing but manipulation manuals or technique how-to's. There is a place for some of that, but only if you have a solid theological foundation to stand on. Bromiley does a lot of work here to put some rock under your feet. I highly recommend it.
October 27, 2011
Great little book. In a market awash in books on the subject of marriage and family from a Christian perspective, this book offers a rich, but concise over-view of what the Bible has to say on this topic. I highly recommend it.
June 19, 2023
This is a must-read. One of the best books I've ever read on Christian marriage. I would say this is a classic.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews