Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) QUOTES

1 " The Lord’s second insight goes deeper than the obvious. Indeed, it is amazing. Jesus read the perhaps ambiguous word “become” in “they shall become one flesh,” and he saw something there that we might never have thought of. Behind the word “become” Jesus sees a personal power at work. He sees no one less than God: “What therefore God has joined together . . .” (v. 6). A husband and wife, when they marry, do not become one flesh by their own wills or by the pastor’s pronouncement or by some mysterious process. God joins them together (Mal. 2:14–15). "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

2 " Therefore, a loving Christian husband cares so deeply about his wife that he makes sure that her life is moving in a desirable direction, even as Christ nourishes us all. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

3 " So when a woman is married to a lovingly Christlike man who cherishes her, she feels warmth in her heart at being valued by her husband and held dear above all others, second only to Christ himself. Her husband doesn’t compare her with others or find fault with her or treat her as a loser he is stuck with. That would break her heart. Instead, her husband delights in her and prizes her, and she feels it deep inside with a heartwarming glow. That is cherishing one’s wife. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

4 " Even so, a man’s wife will not be ideal in every way. But she is still his wife, one flesh with him, wonderfully bound to him as a dear part of his very self. How could he neglect or despise her, even in her imperfections? No, he will care for her all the more, nourishing and cherishing her toward her destined glory. After all, every one of us gives the Lord plenty of reasons to give up and walk away. But his heart finds in our very offenses only more reasons to stay tenderly involved with us, all the way to our eternal magnificence. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

5 " It is not as though marriage is just one theme among others in the Bible. Instead, marriage is the wraparound concept for the entire Bible, within which the other themes find their places. And if the Bible is telling a story of married "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

6 " The confinement she feels is spreading, becoming intolerable, because in a hostile mind limitations grow to a maddening degree. Moreover, God had strongly warned, “You shall surely die.” But the woman now softens it to “. . . lest you die.” Now that her view of the consequences is less alarming, Satan springs on that very point: "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

7 " The wife acting as the head, but not a wise head, and the husband acting as the helper, but not a wise helper—it was the breakdown of marriage that broke everything. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

8 " If you are married, even if your marriage in some ways disappoints you, still, God was the one who joined you two together. Your imperfect marriage in the world of today is as sacred in the sight of God as was the perfect marriage between Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Your marriage is a grace from above. Your marriage is a miracle. Your marriage came to you with the touch of God upon it, and it remains dear to him. Your marriage has the potential, by his grace, to bring redemption into the broken world we all live in now. Your imperfect marriage is, therefore, worth celebrating. Jesus thought so. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

9 " Surprisingly, the Bible moves from cosmic majesty in Genesis 1 to a common everyday reality in Genesis 2: a young couple falling in love. So we might wonder if marriage is out of its depth here alongside the creation of the universe. Or could it be that the Bible sees in marriage more than we typically do? For now, we will put that question on hold, as we attend first to what Genesis 2:15–25 clearly teaches about marriage. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

10 " Adam’s role was to assert and enjoy his sovereignty under God, cultivating the garden into an expanding paradise and protecting it from all harm. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

11 " But whatever we may suffer as we await the renewal of all things, the promises of God can outperform the amusements and even the therapies of this world in keeping our souls and our marriages alive. The key to a lasting romance is not endless sex but believing hearts. God has given us a wonderful promise of restoration by his grace. We most certainly will get back to the garden someday, led by one who through his suffering opened the way for Adam and Eve and us and millions more (Rev. 22:1–5). "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

12 " When a husband does not appreciate how sweetly his wife keeps looking for ways to make things work, God does see, and he does appreciate her. She is always very precious to him. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

13 " The most remarkable thing about marriage today is not that it can be troubled but that we still have this privilege at all. When God justly expelled us from the garden of Eden, he did not take this gift back. He let us keep his priceless gift, though we sometimes misuse it. But what every married couple needs to know is that their marriage is a remnant of Eden. This is why every marriage is worth working at, worth fighting for. A marriage filled with hope in God is nothing less than an afterglow of the garden of Eden, radiant with hope until perfection is finally restored. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

14 " the gospel fills a husband’s heart with a sense of his wife’s greatness and potential, the glorious woman she is destined to become, and he learns to love her accordingly: "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

15 " To be married to a selfish man who, in effect, creates one more child in the house—for any wife, that is hard to bear. But a Christlike husband makes her burden lighter. He enjoys serving her as her lover and her provider and her defender, like Christ with his church. But even more deeply, beneath the Christlike behavior, biblical headship flows out of the mind of Christ. Our Savior’s own mentality becomes visible in a Christian husband cheerfully taking responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect his wife. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

16 " So then, the striking thing about the laws of the Old Testament is not that some of them are beneath the modern conscience but that they are above the other law codes of the ancient world. As "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

17 " There is a humanitarian ethos in Israelite penal law, which is acknowledged by all who have compared it with contemporary ancient Near Eastern collections of law.”29 "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

18 " (Prov. 31:10–11) This woman is a role model. She is a high-capacity woman, very capable as “a helper fit for him.” In fact, the phrase “an excellent wife” in verse 10 can be translated more literally “a woman of strength.” The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, even renders the phrase as “a manly woman.” This iconic woman is strong. How so? This poem goes on to say that she works hard, she makes money, she is kind to the poor, she is fearless about the future, she enhances her husband’s reputation, she speaks with wisdom, plus more. Verse 17 sums it up: “She "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

19 " She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.” But she is not using her strengths and abilities to compete with her husband. She is not driven by an identity crisis or treating her marriage as a matter of sexual politics. She is too mature for that. She is giving herself away to her husband, her family, and her community with wholehearted selflessness. A woman of this quality is rare: “An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

20 " Naturally, such men were mostly husbands or husbands-to-be. We men need to know that a wife does not often grow to this level of magnificence on her own. A great wife usually has a great husband. After all, what does the word husband mean? We have the related English word husbandry, that is, “cultivation.” And when the English word husband is used as a verb, it means “to cultivate.” So here is a husband’s privilege and responsibility: to cultivate and nurture his wife. A wise husband’s lifetime impact on his wife is that she is enabled to become the magnificent woman, the “excellent wife,” God made her to be. "

― Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. , Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)