It has really taken me back what I wrote today. It is not because I wrote it, but because I believe it demonstrates the Lord’s grace. I’m going to reproduce it below because I want a reminder for myself of the Lord’s grace, and since I’m guessing there are going to be a who lot more of these emails, because grace isn’t currently flowing both ways, there will be a lot of copies.

Dorothy-Jane, I love you!

To you or anyone who reads this, don’t you see the marvelous simplicity of the Scripture when it defines marriage by sex. There is no institution, ritual, or certification required.

Marriage is the reflection of the relationship between Christ and His elect. Paul makes the analogy very clear in Ephesians 5. In verse 32 he states about marriage that “This mystery is great”, which is where we get the word “mega”. It is a really big deal.

For those who have experienced the intimate relationship with just one other, which by the Lord’s grace includes me, it is a joy that is unsurpassed by anything in this life besides the relationship with Christ.

Adding complexity to it is no different than those institutions that require rituals or obligations to show that you are redeemed by the Lord. There is no such requirement in Scripture for either case.

Seeking ways to justify an escape from marriage or flexibility in marriage is very similar to seeking to define your terms with the Lord rather than yielding to His. He is the Lord, not us.

There are so many who fight this simple command due to sin in their past or perhaps present. 1st Corinthians 6:9-10 does make it clear that sexual sin is detestable before the Lord including fornicators (“pornos”) or adulterers, or homosexuals. BUT there is verse 11 which is such a loud shout of grace you should be able to hear me speak it from anywhere you are.

“Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Just as marriage is so simply defined, so is grace for the repentant. This is the grace from the Lord Jesus Christ who defines marriage, and offers grace. It is this grace I proclaim.