Chandler Matt - The mingling of souls: Gods design for love, marriage, sex & redemption

Lauren: What a gift you are to me. I am not wise or clever enough with words to adequately explain all that God has given me in you!

CONTENTS

NOTES

Introduction

Chapter 1Attraction

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Erica Reischer and Kathryn S. Koo, The Body Beautiful: Symbolism and Agency in the Social World, Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 297317.

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Reischer and Koo, The Body Beautiful, 298.

) pertaining to this passage: Heb a woman of valor. This is the same expression used to describe Ruth (e.g., Ruth 3:11). The term (khayil) here means moral worth (BDB 298 s.v.); cf. KJV a virtuous woman. Elsewhere the term is used of physical valor in battle, e.g., mighty man of valor, the land-owning aristocrat who could champion the needs of his people in times of peace or war (e.g., Judg 6:12). Here the title indicates that the woman possesses all the virtues, honor, and strength to do the things that the poem will set forth.

Bill Hybels, Who You Are When No Ones Looking: Choosing Consistency, Resisting Compromise (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2010).

Anthony Gross, ed., Lincolns Own Stories (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1912), 109.

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Chapter 2Dating

Chapter 3Courtship: An Old Idea Revived

Chapter 5And the Two Become One Flesh

Chapter 6Fighting Fair

Chapter 7Logs on the Fire

Chapter 8Im Not Going Anywhere

See 1 Cor. 7:1013.

CONCLUSION

The Song of Solomon has been interpreted in a variety of ways over the last several millennia. It has been allegorized out of proportion on one extreme, turned into the bluntest of practical textbooks on the other. The truth of its resonance lies in neither extreme, but somewhere in the middle. In the Song we certainly learn many practical things about romance, marriage, and sex. The Bible is eminently practical, even in its poetry. While we cannot overspiritualize the Song, turning all of it into a metaphorical anthem bearing no resemblance to the very real marriage in its vision, we do see that beyond the practicality, beyond the history, beyond the earthiness of its subjects, it definitely points outward, upward, away from itself and to him for whom all songs of praise are due.

Woven into the complexity of Solomons symbolic Song is the profoundest of mysteries, just like woven into the complexity of marriage itself is the profoundest of mysteries. Paul put it this way, borrowing from the Old Testament: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Eph. 5:3132).

Anyone who has been married for a substantial length of time can confess that marriage is many times a mystery. We really dont know what were doing. But what a great reassurance it is to know that God does! He knows exactly what hes doing.

The things that surprise us, that freak us out, that send us into emergency modethey dont faze him at all. The triune God is never in an emergency. Hes never freaked out, never surprised.

As we fumble around in the darkness, then, holding our spouses hand, looking for the light, we will find it not in each others eyes, not in the roaring fire of romantic bliss, but in the Savior who loves us and gave himself for us. When we can see that marriage is about more than marriagecertainly about more than a man and a woman individuallyand about Christs deep, sacrificial, eternal love for his bride, we will really, truly see .

One day our marriage will give way, either by death or by the Lords return. In any event, our marriage was not built for eternity. But the sanctification our marriage will bring into our souls is. One day we will be presented to our Redeemer, like a bride adorned for her husband. Then, when we see face-to-face, we will understand what marriage was truly all about. Until then, we enjoy the mystery. It is an amazing gift, a profound grace.

Yes, we enjoy the mystery of marriage. And give all the glory to its beautiful Author.

It is my sincere hope that this book encouraged your heart deeply. If so, I would be honored if you would tell others about it by writing a review. Go here to write a review on Goodreads.

Thank you!
Matt Chandler

THE MINGLING OF SOULS

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