2 Vital Marriage Realities

Cave on Marriage, Lose the Gospel

I hope the Lord does two things through my new book. One is to impart a clear awareness of what an amazing thing marriage is. It is not just one more mutation in the course of human social evolution. Marriage came down from above. It was not invented. It was given from God. And we can and should revere marriage as a metaphor of the gospel itself.

I also hope the book gives us courage—a gentle but firm resolve—that enables us to hold fast to the biblical definition of marriage and not cave to any of the popular redefinitions of marriage in the world today. We must be faithful to marriage because it is a gospel issue. If we cave on marriage, we lose the gospel.

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. is the president of Renewal Ministries and pastor to pastors at Immanuel Church, Nashville. He is also the author of several books, including the Preaching the Word commentaries on Isaiah and Proverbs and Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel. He is also a contributor to the ESV Study Bible. Ray and his wife, Jani, have been married for fifty years.