The New Project – The Great Consummation

The Bible is all about sex.

One of the things that constantly gets bandied around in the debate about the engagement of the Church with the modern world is that Jesus said far more about other things than he said about sex. Well, that might be true but it doesn’t stop there being an extraordinary meta-narrative running through Scripture around the theme of sex and marriage. From the opening chapter to the closing words, the theme of sex and marriage permeates the Bible and drives one of the major concepts that underlines the Gospel message, that of the union of Christ and his Church.

My new project, The Great Consummation is to read through the Bible cover to cover and discuss every reference to sex and marriage, exploring how it the meta-narrative is shaped in the form of the Canon as the Western Church has received the Bible, and to engage with the issues that arise. We’ll look at the good and the bad, the Levitical and the lyrical, seeing how they weave together into one theme. On the way we might find some surprises and challenges but we’ll always discover God speaking to his people.

This isn’t meant to be an academic exercise – we might engage with commentaries and books at points along the way but at others we’ll simply look at the text and try to draw some insights. We’ll end up with a series of mini essays that help us understand pastorally and theologically what the trajectory of Scripture is on this subject. The comment section will be open for your thoughts as appropriate, but don’t expect a big debate from me if you disagree!

Posts will come as and when I have time to write and think. Some of what I’ll share has been maturing for years, some will be insights on the day of discovering the text. All of it I hope will stimulate discussion and deepen confidence in the simple truth that God has revealed himself and his purposes through his Word.

I’m looking forward to the next few months / years of writing on this. I hope you are too.