Monthly Archives: March 2025

EDIFICATION AGAIN

Posted by expedition44 on

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing. 

-1 Thessalonians 5:11  NASB

Ever get tired of repetition? Maybe tired of working out spiritual areas of your life? Would you rather run from toxicity than be healed? Some things in life take hard work, dedication, and repetition. The Bible uses the term “building” to describe the restoration of the body.

“Generally, relationships build by a process of reciprocal self-revelations.  One individual takes the leap and reveals some intimate material; thereby placing himself or herself at risk; the other closes the gap by reciprocating in kind; together, they deepen the relationship via a spiral of self-revelation.  If the person at risk is left hanging without the other reciprocating, then the friendship often flounders.” [1] Since the garden, covenant relationships were meant to be intimate and reciprocal. They aren’t simply a series of singular occurrences; they are series of repeating the same basic gesture: edification. Edification (in part) is transforming conflicts or difficulties into beautiful deeper relationships within a covenant dynamic of relational understanding.

Transparency is critical in covenant. The word transparency isn’t found in the Bible, but numerous Scripture passages exhort Christians to live holy and blameless lives in this way (Eph. 4:25, Ps. 139:23–24 , 1 Pet. 2:12, Heb. 4:13, 2 Tim. 2:15, Phil. 2:15, Prov. 28:13). Jesus says, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Transparency is living our lives reflecting Jesus’s light as we acknowledge our need for gospel reminders, accountability, and repentance. [2]

Living in the light is transparency.

Parakaléō, means “to encourage” or to “come alongside”.  But Paul is Hebraic, the Hebrew equivalent is nāḥam, a word that expressly involves God’s comfort divine encouragement, or heart. In context he then uses oikodoméō to affirm that this is a work of the spirit. Therefore, we are the hands and feet for the building up divinely by God in those around us.

The reason that edification within the church is such a difficult conversation is because so many have been wounded or scarred through a church initiative or person “in charge.” Or maybe they have been convinced that appreciation shouldn’t be needed by a person if your heart is serving the Lord. But there is a great disconnect with that way of thinking. In other words, churches are supposed to be a great source of edification, yet they sometimes accomplish the exact opposite in one’s life. We sure like to point fingers at the ones in charge but more often than not, it is the body hurting the body, which I admit is a sign of poor shepherding from all directions; in a better context shouldn’t each member of the body be shepherding and building each other up in Christ? Shouldn’t our light be by example?

Psychological and spiritual wounds are particularly scarring.  Another’s words or action can turn the wound into a life-long necrosis. [3]

Robert E. Webber, used to say, “The road to the future runs through the past.” [4] I call my TOV initiative a first century church, but to be frank, we can’t go back to first century Christianity while living in modern America, nor do I even really want to. What I mean is that we can learn from it and take back the good that has been lost, but they still had some of our similar modern problems. In many ways we have progressed but in other ways also declined as the greater church body. I want to regain the foundations of Jesus that seem so lost in modern day American Christianity, I want to get back to the body of Christ before the wedding of the church with imperial power. “This kind of early Christianity was characterized by a commitment to peace, the practice of patience, and a holy ambivalence toward the tawdry politics of empire. In this era the church was not obsessed with “changing the world,” rather it was content to simply be the world as already changed by Christ.” [5]

Edification is the fruit of a church that lives out Jesus.

Now, to be honest I am not a huge fan of the word edification. In I Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:12, and many other places in the Bible we read the term ‘edification’ instead of “building up.” The word edification didn’t even begin to be used in conversational English until the mid-17th century. The reason I cringe is because in modern English it sounds more like cheerleading than anything else, and although there is a place for encouragement, it is a bit different (but also necessary.) Oikodome denotes the act of building – ‘oikos’ meaning house and ‘demo’ meaning to build. It is used only figuratively in the New Testament, in the sense of edification and the promotion of spiritual growth. Romans 14.19, 15.2; and 1 Corinthians 14.3 are some examples of this building up.  The word is also used earlier in Ephesians when Paul is describing how we are one in Christ, one in the body of Christ in chapter 2, starting in verse 19:

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

It’s interesting that word is used for foundation as well. Edification refers to the process of building up oneself and others spiritually through biblical understanding, knowledge, wisdom, faith, discipleship, sanctification, and devotion to God’s word. It is discipleship. Encouragement (cheerleading) I think also has a place for the Christian, but involves offering support, confidence, and hope, while edification refers to the act of building up or strengthening, particularly in a spiritual or moral sense. Both are essential for fostering spiritual growth and unity within the body of Christ. [6]

Conflict is a natural part of life, an unavoidable concomitant fact of life. It is an opposing interest that occurs in human relationships. The Bible provides a rich tapestry of teachings on conflict resolution, emphasizing love, forgiveness, humility, and justice. By adhering to these principles, believers can navigate conflicts in a way that honors God and fosters peace within the community.

One of the core messages of the Bible is reconciliation. God’s desire for reconciliation with His people is at the heart of the gospel, and this same principle applies to how we should approach conflicts within the church. Matthew 18:15-17 offers a clear roadmap for resolving interpersonal disputes within a community, emphasizing the importance of addressing conflicts directly and seeking to reconcile rather than harboring resentment. [7] But as simple as it seems, most Christians don’t walk it out well. Biblical peacemaking goes beyond resolving conflicts—it’s about healing relationships and aligning them with God’s will. It’s a journey of faith, obedience, and transformation rooted in God’s grace and wisdom.

  • Glorify God: Use conflicts as opportunities to trust and honor God. Trust the spirit to turn ashes to beauty. Walk in biblical principles of covenant.
  • Get the Log Out of Your Own Eye: Engage in self-reflection to understand and admit your role in conflicts. Be sacrificial and humble putting others in front of yourself.
  • Gently Restore: Approach others with a spirit of love and restoration. Accept correction and pray for a spirit of shepherding. Apply grace, compassion, and mercy, these are of the Lord. Don’t keep record of wrong. Sometimes restoration of trust takes time, but work towards it.
  • Go and Be Reconciled: Seek genuine forgiveness and reconciliation. Work towards restoration. Walk in reciprocal grace. Be a shepherd and be shepherded be the greatest and the least of these both.

Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” 

Proverbs 19:11 says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”

Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” 

Jesus teaches us to seek reconciliation before engaging in worship or offering sacrifices (Matthew 5:23-24). Ephesians 4 also helps us in realizing that there is an immediacy to these actions. Reconciliation involves acknowledging wrongdoing and seeking forgiveness, as well as restoring the relationship between the parties involved. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, it is stated that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, and that through Christ, we can be reconciled to God and to one another.

Reconciliation is not only important for restoring relationships between individuals, but also for building and maintaining strong covenant communities. The apostle Paul urged the first century communities to live in transparent harmony with one another, to bear with each other’s faults, and to forgive one another, just as Christ forgave them (Colossians 3:12-15).

That’s the part I want back! Time to get some more reps! Time to build.

  1.  Irvin D. Yalom, Staring at the Sun: Being at peace with your own mortality
  2. Cultivating a Culture of Transparency in Your Church by James Choi
  3. Hurtful Words Quotes: Powerful Phrases to Help You Overcome Verbal Abuse Hurtful Words aasem.org
  4. https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/the-road-to-the-future-runs-through-the-past
  5. Brian Zahnd via personal conversation
  6. https://biblehub.com/topical/e/encouragement_and_edification.htm
  7. The Role of Biblical Principles in Conflict Resolution: A Guide for Church Leaders By Julie Bockarie

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The covenant and marriage 2

Posted by expedition44 on

HIS COVENANT – בריתו

In Hebrew the word Berith is nearly always translated as the English word Covenant. What is the meaning of the word covenant in Biblical context? The word covenant according to more than 40 biblical authors spanning 1500 remains consistent. In most situations the word takes on a pledge or an alliance, coming from the Semitic root word barah which means to bind, to cut and to break (bread). You might raise an eyebrow at the inference of bread, but if you are a covenant keeper you will immediately go to the elements of communion as a symbol of covenant. The idea goes back thousands of years when “deals” or “agreements” were made over the breaking of bread, which meant sharing a meal together. Today in the Middle East you might still find such a ritual.

Chaim Bentorah reminds us that, “When David said in Psalms 23:5:  “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:” he was making a reference to reconciliation with his enemies for when you had a meal together it was to talk peace.  Eating a meal together was an excellent opportunity to negotiate terms of a berith or covenant.  It was also an excellent opportunity to off your enemy by slipping a little poison in his food.  Thus, to share a meal with an enemy was the ultimate in a good will gesture.  You were showing that you trusted this enemy’s intentions for peace enough that you would stake your life on it believing he would not poison you.” [1]

However, in other Middle East cultures we see pacts or covenants were made by passing between cut pieces of flesh of an animal sacrifice.[2] In the Old Testament, the English phrase “make a covenant” is most often a translation of the Hebrew kārat berît, which literally means “cut a covenant.”[3] The verb kārat means “cut off, cut down,”[4] and the noun berît means “covenant,”[5] similar in meaning to the words pact, compact, treaty, alliance, and league. While other Hebrew verbs are sometimes used with berît, such as qûm (“establish” or “confirm”) and nātan (“give”),[6] kārat occurs ninety times in the Hebrew Bible in reference to making covenants.[7]

In the Ancient Near East, it was common for two people to make a covenant by cutting animals in half, splitting the halves, and then walking in between the pieces to make an oath. By walking between the split animals, each person was swearing that if they broke their part of the agreement, they would meet the same end as the sacrificed animal. [8]

In evangelicalism, there is a lot of talk about conditional and unconditional covenants; however, when you really dive in, you are going to find that every covenant has an element of conditionalism to it. I will even say, there really is no such thing as an unconditional covenant. In the dance of Grace, every amazing action is met with a reciprocal and similar reaction. [9] Ben Witherington shares, “covenants while many were unilateral, were almost always conditional in nature. This is the very nature of a covenant with stipulations, which if they were not kept, the suzerain had obligated himself to enact the curse sanctions. Thereafter, it was up to the suzerain to decide whether even to do another covenant or not. Fortunately for us, the Biblical Suzerain, our God, has chosen to continue to re-up, either renewing (some of the OT covenants), or in the case of the new covenant, starting afresh with a new covenant, which promised to be more permanent.” [10] Witherington uses the terminology, “more permanent” to show that our English idea of “unconditional” leaves us a little short.

If your wondering about God and animal sacrifice. You are probably heading in the right direction. My Friend Greg Boyd has an excellent write up here. Animals were sacrificed not because God needed them to forgive people but because his people needed them to remember the death consequences of sin and to therefore repent when they’d broken covenant with God. God meets them in their broken culture of animal sacrifice and eventually turns it towards His good. Later in Israel’s history, when people began sacrificing animals without repenting in their hearts, the Lord told them (through prophets like Isaiah, Hosea and Amos) that he despised their sacrifices, for they are meaningless without a change in heart. [11]

But it is easy to miss the point by simply studying ancient near east culture. You see Yahweh didn’t want to simply be another god to Israel, or do what the other gods were doing. The other gods acted in mutual agreement they wanted something physical from the people. John Walton reminds us that, “Typically, both parties to a contract, treaty or similar legal agreement could expect to benefit from their commitment. It is not at all clear that the Biblical text wants its readers to believe that Yahweh will receive some benefit from this relationship with the Israelites that he would not otherwise be able to obtain. The text speaks of great benefit awaiting the Israelites for their consistent obedience to their covenantal obligations. For Yahweh’s part, his actions do not appear to be based in self-interest but in a willingness to be gracious and to extend freely his blessing.” [12]

So, what does God get out of it? A relationship with us. Sound underrated? Maybe. But it goes back to the dance of Grace I have written so much about in my series “this is the Way.” The story of the Bible is that for some reason, this is what God desires more than anything and will stop at nothing to come back into a free will love relationship with his created beings. It is incomprehensible to our broken minds. This is the standard of covenant that we are then asked to live out to others.

As you could study covenant to many different levels, what I am really leaning into is the fundamental Biblical theme that God wants to partner with us. In the garden God offers to walk intimately with his treasured possession to reign and rule, keep and cultivate reconciling all of His creation to His glory. That first covenant was quickly broken but it doesn’t stop God from being the way maker. The story of the Bible is God’s plan to not only bring back the intimacy between man and maker in the garden but even surpass it that we might bear His very image, and kingdom kinship completely reconciled and “then some” in a recreated heaven and earth.

This partnership wasn’t merely intended for a husband and wife, although that become the biblical metaphor for such an image, but for every biblical relationship. God’s plan was for all of his relationship to be in covenant together. What does this mean? I guess you will need to wait for part three.

  1. https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2015/11/word-study-his-covenant-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%95/
  2. IBID
  3. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000), 503.
  4. Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, 136.
  5. Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 166.
  6. According to a search of the text of the Hebrew Bible in The Scriptures: CD-ROM Resource Edition 1.0.
  7. See how “covenant” is italicized (added by translators) in 1 Samuel 11:2; 20:16; 1 Kings 8:9; 2 Chronicles 5:10; Nehemiah 9:38; and Isaiah 57:8.
  8. https://cufi.org/resource/what-does-it-mean-to-cut-a-covenant/
  9. Dr. Will Ryan’s Book, “This is the Way” to covenant discipleship
  10. https://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/10/cutting-covenant-and-when-covenant.html
  11. https://reknew.org/2019/09/why-did-god-require-animal-sacrifice-in-the-old-testament/
  12. https://overviewbible.com/covenant-john-walton/

The covenant and marriage

Posted by expedition44 on

The goal of gathering information on this topic is that it might be activated and transformed continually to you. “Do or do not. There is no try” [1] You are a minister of the order of the holy royal priesthood, and your primary congregation is your spouse and family. “Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.” [2] In a marriage you always think your perspective is correct, yet if you are in a covenant relationship your spouse, your primary covenant relationship is based on the Lord [first]. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is commissioned through your spouse to give you the gift of a divine perspective when you aren’t able to see clearly yourself. There are a lot of repercussions today of the modern church not understanding ancient covenant language that have affected our marriages, family, and the body of Christ. I think we need a return to covenant faithfulness, and it starts with each of us in covenant relationship before the Lord, then to our marriage, families and unto the ends of the earth by discipleship.

 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11

“In the ultimate sense, your marriage has nothing to do with your spouse.  It has everything to do with your relationship to Jesus Christ” (279). [3]

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 states that two are better than one, as they can help each other and share the rewards of their labor. If one falls, the other can lift them up, but woe to the person who is alone when they fall.

Let all that you do be done in love.  1 Corinthians 16:14 

Your marriage first has to be grounded individually in the love of Christ and then reflected towards your spouse. The word love in our culture is overworked and overlooked. An overworked word loses its meaning.  An overlooked word has no meaning at all. 

Love in the OT is a spontaneous feeling which impels to self-giving, to grasping that which causes it, or to pleasurable activity. It involves the inner person. Since it has a sexual basis, it is directed supremely to persons; love for things or acts has a metaphorical aspect. God’s love is correlative to his personal nature, and love for God is love first for his person and only then for his word or law. Yet even in the extended sense love has an element of fervor or passion except in the case of lesser objects. In the secular sphere love is for husband or wife, parents or children, friends, masters, servants, and social groups. This use is more common than the religious use and may thus be taken as the basis of interpretation. [4]

Does this come as a surprise that the Hebrew ahavah and its Greek correlate agape both have sexual roots? Consider for a moment that YHVH uses marriage and adultery as the paradigm examples of covenant relationship with Him.  It’s all about intimacy, ecstasy, bliss, jubilation and euphoria. It should be the ultimate metaphor of Joy.  Sex is likely the closest slice (or foreshadow) of heaven we will ever get, especially if it is performed in the light that God intended. I give “rapture” theology a hard time, but maybe we have similarly victimized agape by turning it into a set of proxy principles, a way of feeling religious virtue without ever taking off our clothes.  Arm’s-length intimacy isn’t found in Scripture. We have learned to view love in an incomplete form, and anything outside of Christ is incomplete.

The primary word for love in Hebrew is ahavah (אַהֲבָה). Ahavah conveys both human and divine love. It appears in a range of contexts, from romantic love (e.g., Jacob’s love for Rachel in Genesis 29:20) to the covenantal love between God and His people (e.g., Deuteronomy 7:7–8). Ahavah emphasizes action and commitment. This is evident in Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Here, ahavah signifies an all-encompassing devotion rooted in faithfulness and obedience. [5]

Another significant Hebrew term is chesed (חֶסֶד), often translated as “loving-kindness” or “steadfast love.” While not synonymous with ahavah, chesed communicates God’s covenantal loyalty and mercy, such as in Psalm 136, where the refrain declares, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

Together, ahavah and chesed demonstrate a love that is both relational and enduring. [6]

In covenant marriage, this multifaceted understanding of love calls for a life of devotion, selflessness, and community. By living out this love, we participate in the divine mission of bringing healing and reconciliation into our marriage, our families, and through discipleship, to the end of the broken world.

“[It is] a central scriptural teaching…that wherever anything wrong exists in the world, anything we experience as anti-normative, evil, distorted, or sick, there we meet the perversion of God’s good creation. It is one of the unique and distinctive features of the Bible’s teaching on the human situation that all evil and perversity in the world is ultimately the result of humanity’s fall, of its refusal to live according to the good ordinances of God’s creation. Human disobedience and guilt lie in the last analysis at the root of all the troubles on earth.” [7]

Consider now how frequently idolatry and sexual immorality appear in tandem throughout the biblical narrative (see Exodus 32, Isaiah 57:7-8, Hosea 4:12-14, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 3:5, Revelation 2:14, 20, 21:25). 

“The link between idolatry and sexual immorality is established by the frequent use of ‘prostituting themselves’ or ‘adultery’ to describe Hebrew idolatry [in the Old Testament]. Israel’s unfaithfulness to God was not only a form of spiritual prostitution or adultery, but it also led to the physical acts themselves.” [8]

Sexual sin is merely a symptom of something else. Everything is turned upside down—splintered, deformed, and henceforth, death-dealing to our spirituality. The Greek pornea primary definition is adultery, but it has a secondary meaning of idolatry. It was connected to sexual practices involved in pagan worship. Among pagans, temple prostitutes and group orgies were a reality. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel also employ this metaphor. Jeremiah 3:6-9 describes Israel’s idolatry as harlotry:

“During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there.’ … ‘Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.'”

Similarly, Ezekiel 16 and 23 provide graphic depictions of Israel’s idolatry as adulterous behavior, emphasizing the betrayal of the covenant relationship.

The book of James further reinforces this concept by addressing the divided loyalties of believers. 

James 4:4 states, “You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.”

Here, the language of adultery is used to describe the spiritual unfaithfulness of aligning with worldly values over God’s commandments.

Throughout Scripture, idolatry is depicted as spiritual adultery which serves as a powerful reminder of the exclusive devotion God demands from His people. It highlights the seriousness of idolatry, not merely as a breach of religious practice but as a profound betrayal of the intimate relationship God desires with His followers. [9]

Covenant and replacement Theology

This is not really a post on a particular theology, I don’t really subscribe to much of any boxes to check in that regard, but since you might be wondering, I will expound here briefly. It then becomes very interesting that many scholars would say that God eventually “divorces” Israel for her unfaithfulness paving the way for the New Covenant for all to be grafted into the “body of Christ,” the “church” as the “new” bride of Christ. Although this is the heart of replacement theology and often argued (to may take the simple analogy too far), it is hard to deny that in a basic sense God has severed His relationship with unfaithful Israel and offered it to all who will accept Him. Where “replacement Theology” might be perceived as a bit “off” here is when you come to the realization that God’s plan through the Abrahamic Covenant was to redeem or reconcile all the nations. Israel would simply be that catalyst, and when they failed to follow through in their covenant mission, God simply adapted a plan for “all” to return to Him. However, this is splitting hairs as the plan of covenant relationship was always for those that made a personal decision and were willing to enter into allegiant obedience with Him. The offering simply started with all of Israel being chosen to receive a special favor of redemption through the Exodus to begin that process. to some regard special privilege as a nation was given to Israel as a whole but not to the extent of some magic tractor beam that some have made it out to sound like. The covenant relationship that God offers to anyone, Israel or those under the New Covenant was always prefaced by the need to enter into obedient relationship with Him. In that sense what God was looking for never changed from the former covenants to the New Covenant.

Love in Covenant Relationships

Covenant relationships form the backbone of many biblical narratives, embodying a commitment that goes beyond mere agreements to encompass mutual devotion and loyalty. These relationships, often likened to the bond between God and His people, reflect a profound level of trust and dedication. Within the context of marriage, the covenant relationship symbolizes a lifelong promise, where love is not merely an emotion but a steadfast commitment to uphold the precepts of the Lord as mosaic picture of sacrificial love and the essence of the Love of Jesus towards another. In a covenant relationship, love has always been characterized by unwavering faithfulness.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

God’s covenant relationship with us is a metaphor of marital faithfulness.  It’s not just about sexual fidelity but sex has a very big role to play in this metaphor, so much so that idolatry is viewed in sexual terms.  We see this again when Paul chooses the Greek term katallasso as the verb about returning to the Lord. Katallasso means “to reconcile,” and is used in 1 Corinthians 7:11 about marriage reconciliation.  This Greek verb is the verb for marriage counseling.  It is the goal and the means by which estranged couples reunite.  And if Paul uses this verb as the actions required of broken marriages, how much more applicable is it when it comes to broken fellowship with the Great Lover His church. Pagans convert.  Jews return. This message isn’t just for the married, it is also to those that have lost their covenant. Paul is reaching out to those who were once part of the fellowship but now don’t live like it.  This can be seen as directed towards Israel, but also anyone else who has strayed. Their error is divorcing God.  They knew God but they chose to live for their own agendas.  Perhaps today in our modern religious circles there are a lot more who need to be reconciled than we thought.  Perhaps the most important function of the “church” is “divorce counseling” with those who thought marriage to God only meant signing the contract. We have learned to treat this covenant like a contract of the world not a spiritual covenant. I have always had a hard time with evangelical crusades that emphasize the salvific concentration without the follow-up of deeper discipleship. It resembles a one-night stand kind of theology rather than a lifetime of faithful commitment.

For believers, covenant faithfulness involves a response to God’s steadfast love through obedience, worship, and devotion. The call to faithfulness is echoed in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” Christians are encouraged to live in a manner worthy of the calling they have received, reflecting God’s faithfulness in their relationships and commitments. When we fail to live intimately in the covenant that God offers to us it is describes with the same words as adultery and idolatry. In this sense casual Christianity equates with grounds for spiritual divorce. (I never knew you.) Yet God is pictured as a faithful partner that is always asking the unfaithful one to come back into lost devotion.

The Book of Hebrews exhorts believers to hold fast to their hope without wavering, for “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). This assurance of God’s faithfulness provides the foundation for a life of trust and perseverance in the covenant marriage and the Christian journey. That is the heart of the covenant. That we might be completely undivided to this journey of covenant faithfulness to the Lord and then to our spouse, our families, and unto the end of the world to those that are endeared together in this commissional calling. It is a return to Eden and beyond.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Krista Bensheimer and Steve and Kay Cassell who contributed to the article.

  1. Master Yoda – Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas
  2. Master Yoda – Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, George Lucas
  3. Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs. Emerson Eggerichs. Nashville, TN: Nelson, Thomas Inc., 2004. 
  4. Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
  5. Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew: Based on the Commentaries of Samson Raphael Hirsch
  6. ^IBID
  7. Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, p. 46
  8. Dennis P. Hollinger, The Meaning of Sex: Christian Ethics and the Moral Life
  9. https://biblehub.com/topical/i/idolatry_as_spiritual_adultery.htm