Thoughts for Christmas

I love some Christmas carols, and I really don't like others.  Here is a selection of various verses I really like, making me thing about some wonderful truths to ponder.  Let us praise the God of all creation, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:13-16).

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."(Micah 5:2)

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  (John 1:4,9)
   
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
   
Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:  "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:8-14)

While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
All seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around
And glory shone around

"Fear not," he said,
For mighty dread
Had seized their troubled minds
"Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind,
To you and all mankind."

"To you in David's
Town this day
Is born of David's line
The Savior who is Christ the Lord
And this shall be the sign
And this shall be the sign."

"The heavenly Babe
You there shall find
To human view displayed
And meanly wrapped
In swathing bands
And in a manger laid
And in a manger laid."

Thus spake the seraph,
And forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song
Addressed their joyful song

"All glory be to
God on high
And to the earth be peace;
Goodwill henceforth
From heaven to men
Begin and never cease
Begin and never cease!"

The Real Face of Jesus Christ

What did The Lord Jesus Christ look like? The Bible does not actually tell us that much in way of physical description, but we can have some idea from his ethnicity. Jesus is Jewish. Most people know that, except some Christians. Does it really matter? Yes it does. Jesus is human, and therefore has an ethnic and racial identity like everyone else. Let's look at some of the false views of Jesus and then look at the true one:

Jesus is Not Aryan.

In 1939 when German Christians came together to form something called for The Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life. That name needs no explanation. In this view, Jesus came to fight against Judaism and his death was his defeat. This is not the Jesus of the Bible but a Jesus of their own making. Christianity was complicit in The Holocaust, not only in the twentieth but long before. The Reformer Martin Luther, 400 years before Hitler, advocated burning down synagogues and ejecting them from the country. Germany was also the home of the Higher Criticism movement in the eighteenth century, which attacked the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. Against this background, the authenticity of the Bible was rejected and therefore Jesus could be reinvented and robbed of his Jewish heritage.

Jesus is Not a Palestinian

This is another historical fabrication which is even promoted by some textbooks and by many Christians. According to many, Jesus was not born in Israel, he was born in Palestine, hence Jesus was a Palestinian. Like the Aryan Jesus, this reinvention is politically motivated. The Palestinian National Covenant dismisses any historical attachment that the Jewish people have to the land of Israel. So how do they deal with the Bible and with Jesus? The same way that the Nazi's did – they attack the authenticity of the Scriptures and they reinvent Jesus as a Palestinian. When you see the Arab press, you will find this very propaganda. Sadly there is now a movement of Christian Palestinianism which regards Bible as Christian rather than Jewish, the land of the Bible is Palestine, not Israel, Jesus is a Palestinian and not Jewish, and the Palestinians are the rightful owners of the land. So this movement has an agenda. It is headed up by organisations like Sabeel and Stephen Sizer.

Jesus is Jewish

This is the Biblical Jesus. As we look through the New Testament, we will find that the Jewishness of Jesus is in the very fabric of the gospels. Jesus born a Jew, he lived as a Jew, he died as a Jew and rose from the dead as a Jew.

Jesus Was Born a Jew

We see the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. For the purpose of this study, we will turn our attention to Luke's account in chapter 2:

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. 22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

The parents of Jesus lived as Jews and were Torah-observant. We see this as we go through the gospel records – God did not just pick Mary and Joseph at random but chose those who loved him and were faithful to Torah. This ceremony of the first-born Son was to remind the Jewish people of their redemption from Egyptian slavery.

.

25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel

Notice that Simeon was not waiting for the Consolation of Palestine. The name of the land is Israel, and that is where Jesus was born. The name Palestine was not used until it was invented by the Romans after the destruction of Jerusalem. Luke's account continues:

and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29 "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."

Jesus and salvation are the same Hebrew word. Salvation is offered and intended to all nations. God sent a Jewish saviour into the world, not just that Israel may be saved but that the whole world may be saved. It does not matter what nationality you are – God sent Jesus into the world for you personally. If Jesus is not Jewish, then he is not the promised Messiah, and therefore he is not the Saviour of the world that Christians believe in. Jesus was born a Jew.

Jesus Lived as a Jew

We continue in Luke chapter 2 in a view of his childhood:

40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Jesus was in the Temple when his parents found him. Obviously, The Temple was the centre of religious life within Israel and demonstrates that Jesus was completely Jewish in his lifestyle. Jesus also attended the local synagogue in his adult life and when he began his public ministry. Turn to Luke chapter 4:

14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

Church history has overlooked the Jewishness of Jesus. John Chrysostom, one of the early Church Fathers in the fourth century, must have forgotten that Jesus attended the synagogues when he said:

The synagogue is worse than a brothel…it is the den of scoundrels and the repair of wild beasts…It is a criminal assembly of Jews… As for me, I hate the synagogue…I hate the Jews for the same reason.

How very strange that this man professed belief in a Jewish Saviour and yet called Jesus a “scoundrel” and a “wild beast”. Another early Church Father, Justin Martyr, was just as anti-semitic:

We too, would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath days, and in a word, all you festivals, if we were not aware of the reason why they were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and the hardness of heart. The purpose of this was that you and only you might suffer the afflictions that are now justly yours.

The Christian Council of Nicea, which was composed entirely of Gentile believers also banned Christians from observing the Jewish Sabbath and the Jewish feasts. I wonder if Justin Martyr and John Chrysostom were aware that Jesus kept the Jewish festivals. In John chapter 2 after the wedding in Cana we find him going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. He also celebrated this before his crucifixion.

Jesus Died as a Jew

The death of Jesus the Messiah is central to his person and work and is found in all four gospels. Let us look briefly at an account in the Gospel of John chapter 18:

33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"

Pontius Pilate, this wicked and contemptible ruler, knew more about Jesus the Messiah than some of the Church Fathers. He recognised that Jesus was Jewish! Pilate, of course, was no friend to the Jewish people and wanted to really stick the knife in when he “crowned” Jesus.

19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews." ' " 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." (John 18:19-22)

Pilate was gloating that he had put the Jewish king to death, not knowing of course that God was over this act, accomplishing his purposes for the salvation of the world.

Jesus was raised as a Jew

50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

The blessing given here is the Aaronic blessing, which is given in synagogues today. It is also given at the end of Anglican services. We see the disciples returned unto Jerusalem and the Temple. The fact that Jesus continued identifying himself with the Jewish people after his resurrection is important. The Apostle Paul confirms the Jewishness of Jesus in Romans 9 as integral to his humanity:

1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.

If Jesus is Jewish, there is no place for anti-semitism in Christianity. Racism of any kind of unacceptable and offensive to God, who made each man. Racism against Jewish people is particularly offensive as they are brothers of Jesus. Christians should be at the forefront of supporting and caring for Jewish people and supporting the right of Jewish people to live in peace rather than promoting anti-Zionist and anti-Israel campaigns. If Jewish people trust in Jesus, they have not ceased to be Jewish, despite being told that by some Christians. They remain Jewish, just as the Saviour and Messiah did.

Did Jesus Have "The Gift of Singleness"?

In some earlier posts the traditional Christian view of “the gift of singleness”, that is, the belief in a supernatural empowerment to live a celibate life free from temptation, was debunked as a myth. The Biblical view of singleness is that it is the grace that God given to some people, and marriage is the grace that God has given to others. In other words, I believe that the gift of of singleness is the state of being single regardless of whether you like it or not.

In this post I want to examine the traditional view against the example of Christ. The the vast majority, if not all, Christians agree that the Lord Jesus Christ never married. This being the case, did Jesus have the supernatural empowerment to stay single and not be tempted?

If the answer is yes, then the humanity of Jesus Christ has been underestimated. If Jesus did not suffer sexual temptation in this way, and he had no desire for companionship, then how can he sympathise with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4)?

If the answer is no, and I believe that this is the correct answer, then how can we expect to have such a gift? Single and married people will suffer temptation and trials in this life. Jesus, being human, most likely desired companionship and whilst he was pure, I dare say that he struggled with various temptations that we have never and will ever know. As his followers, whether single or married, he expects us to suffer with him. He can support single people in their struggles (Hebrews 4) and expects married men to love their own wives in the same self-sacrificial way in which he loves the Church (Ephesians 4) .  So in answer to the question as to whether Jesus had the gift of singleness, the answer depends upon how you define the gift. 

Foreknowledge and Predestination

Foreknowledge and Predestination appear in the Bible in several places. The word “foreknowledge” is taken from the Greek word “proginōskō ”, which appears in several places in the New Testament:

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2:22-23)

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews: Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. (Acts 26:1-5)

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (2 Peter 3:17)

There are other instances of this word “foreknowledge” and it simply means “to know in advance”2. Objects of foreknowledge can be events or people as in the above instances. Some Calvinists affirm though that foreknowledge means foreordination. This is not the case – the terms are totally distinct. Certainly in the last passage cited above it cannot mean “seeing that you ordain these things before”. In the English foreknowledge is composed of the two words fore and knowledge. The same is true in relation to the Greek words pro and ginōskō . The latter word, meaning knowledge, is used in the New Testament to mean simply that. It is used for example, in 1 Corinthians where is says that “knowledge puffs up but love edifies”. It cannot mean “ordination puffs up but love edifies”.

In Acts 2 the foreknowledge of God is linked to his ““determinate counsel”. This is further proof that they are not the same thing, as if that were the case the adjoining of the terms would be completely unnecessary. The link between Gods foreknowledge and his fore-ordination means that with his foreknowledge he arranges everything to fit into his overall plan and purpose.

Chosen To Salvation? (2 Thess 2:13)

The second letter to the Thessalonians is used to support the Calvinistic understanding of election: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). The meaning of the Greek phrase “from the beginning” is in dispute with some Greek scholars. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown state that:

Some of the oldest manuscripts read as English Version, but other oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "as first-fruits." The Thessalonians were among the first converts in Europe (compare Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:15).  (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible).

If it were granted that the phrase “from the beginning” was the correct understanding, it deserves consideration. It cannot mean initial salvation upon believing, for then it would say that “God from the beginning chose you to belief of the truth through sanctification and belief of the truth”. This would not make sense. Their belief is the means by which they are saved. In verses 10-12 Paul says that God appoints a strong delusion upon those who reject the truth, and in parallel he appoints salvation to those who accept the truth. What is the salvation to in this passage? Verse 14 provides the answer: to the obtaining of the glory of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, final salvation, or glorification is in view. Paul was reminding the Thessalonian believers about the future they have to look forward to because of their faith.

Why Did God Hate Esau?

1 An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. 2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals." 4 Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins." But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'Great is the LORD--even beyond the borders of Israel!' (Malachi 1:1-5)

God's love of Jacob and his hatred of Esau causes difficulties for many believers, and I personally struggled with this for a long time. The difficulty comes in reconciling this statement to what the Bible teaches about God's character and his love for the lost world. Can a God of love really hate someone he has created?

In Malachi 1 it is clear that this hatred that God feels towards Esau is a positive hatred, as indicated by the fact that he desolates and crushes Edom. For this reason, those commentataries which promote the view that the word “hate” simply means to “love less” is not convincing from the context. There are other instances in the Psalms where it says that God hates the workers of iniquity, and that God's wrath abides on the one who does not trust in his Son (John 3:36). So God can and really does hate some people.

Further, it is clear that God loved Jacob. There are certain people in the Bible that God especially loved. Noah found grace of eyes of The Lord, Daniel the Prophet was highly esteemed. Mary the Mother of Jesus was highly favoured and greatly blessed by the Almighty. Does this mean that God loves some people more than other people?

To resolve this tension, it is important to distinguish between different types of love and feeling that God has to his creation. God's love for a lost world is a benevolent love which flows from God's heart due to his nature (John 3:16, 1 John 4:7). This love of God is universal and unconditional. It is not object orientated and reaches out to the vilest offender. I believe The Lord Jesus died for the most sinful and wicked men, including Esau.

But God also, due to his holiness and purity, has feelings towards people that are object orientated. There are people like Noah, Daniel and Mary that love him and serve him. God delights in such people. In contrast, there are people on this earth, like Esau, who were despicable, sensual and carnal and God cannot help but feel disgust and intense displeasure at such people. Esau was one such man who disgusted God. He was a sensual man, with no respect for his family traditions or for obedience to God. In Hebrews 12 he is called profane when he despised his birthright. God hated Esau because of Esau's character, and yet at the same time loved him in a benevolent sense because God is love.

As human beings, we may have people in our lives that we strongly dislike due to their character, but the mercy and compassion within us will not desire them harm and certainly not eternal destruction. Whilst God hates the wicked, it is also clear that he has no pleasure in their death and would rather see him turn from his wickedness and live (Ezekiel 18).  God's hatred is not malicious or vindictive but simply an expression of his holiness.  

Singleness in Christian History and Tradition

Here are some statements from the early Church Fathers on Singleness.  Whilst I do not agree with their belief that it is superior to marriage, their positive views about singleness should be noted. Jerome stated:

I do not detract from wedlock when I set virginity before it. No one compares a bad thing with a good. Wedded women may congratulate themselves that they come next to virgins. “Be fruitful,” God says, “and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Gen. i. 28). He who desires to replenish the earth may increase and multiply if he will...Some people may be eunuchs from necessity; I am one of free will.¹

St. Ambrose (340-397), Bishop of Milan, reminded us of the virtues of purity in singleness:

And what is virginal chastity but purity free from stain? And whom can we judge to be its author but the immaculate Son of God, Whose flesh saw no corruption, Whose Godhead experienced no infection? Consider, then, how great are the merits of virginity.

I am not indeed discouraging marriage, but am enlarging upon the benefits of virginity. "He who is weak," says the Apostle, "eats herbs." Romans 14:2 I consider one thing necessary, I admire another. "Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are you free from a wife? Seek not a wife." 1 Corinthians 7:27 This is the command to those who are. But what does he say concerning virgins? "He who gives his virgin in marriage does well, and he who gives her not does better." 1 Corinthians 7:38 The one sins not if she marries, the other, if she marries not, it is for eternity. In the former is the remedy for weakness, in the latter the glory of chastity. The former is not reproved, the latter is praised. ²

St. Augustine also esteemed celibacy:

We lately put forth a book “of the Good of Marriage,” in which also we admonished and admonish the virgins of Christ, not, on account of that greater gift which they have received, to despise, in comparison of themselves, the fathers and mothers of the People of God; and not to think those men, (whom the Apostle sets forth as the olive, that the engrafted wild olive be not proud,) who did service to Christ about to come hereafter, even by the begetting of sons, on this account of less desert, because by divine right continence is preferred to wedded life, and pious virginity to marriage.³

Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, venerated celibacy:

A great thing is virginity, and celibacy, and being ranked with the angels, and with the single nature; for I shrink from calling it Christ’s, Who, though He willed to be born for our sakes who are born, by being born of a Virgin, enacted. Enacted by his religious rule, or as some say by a treatise on Virginity. the law of virginity, to lead us away from this life, and cut short the power of the world, or rather, to transmit one world to another, the present to the future. Who then paid more honour to virginity, or had more control of the flesh, not only by his personal example, but in those under his care? Whose are the convents, and the written regulations, by which he subdued every sense, and regulated every member, and won to the real practice of virginity, turning inward the view of beauty, from the visible to the invisible; and by wasting away the external, and withdrawing fuel from the flame, and revealing the secrets of the heart to God, Who is the only bridegroom of pure souls, and takes in with himself the watchful souls, if they go to meet him with lamps burning and a plentiful supply of oil? Moreover he reconciled most excellently and united the solitary and the community life.⁴

John Wesley was one who took a plain interpretation of 1st Corinthians 7 and commended the single status:

It is good for a man - Who is master of himself. Not to touch a women - That is, not to marry. So great and many are the advantages of a single life. (Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:1)

Wesley was no stranger to the single life. He married at 48 and the marriage lasted 15 years, and no children came from the marriage. John Nelson Darby, one of the early Plymouth Brethren, also remained single his entire life and wrote volumes of Bible expositions which have benefited believers born in later generations. In more recent history, C.S. Lewis married very late in life and only for a brief period due to tragedy. John Stott, a prominent Bible teacher in the late twentieth and early twenty first century, remained single all his life and travelled and ministered to many, which he would not have been able to do with the duties involved in a marriage. Singleness, whilst not normative in Church and society, is still a valid Christian lifestyle.

1Letter XXII. To Eustochium., http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.XXII.html

2Concerning Virginity, Book 1. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.v.html

3St. Augustine, Of Holy Virginity. Taken from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf103.v.iii.ii.html

4Oration XLIII, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.iii.xxvi.html