Page 55 The only boundary the Lord gives us in relation to marriage has to do with the spiritual state of the potential spouse. Paul says that widows in the church are ,at liberty to be married to whom they will, but only in the Lord. Notice the first part of that sentence: ,She is at liberty to be married to whom she will. That’s the parking space. But ,only in the Lord. That’s the parking lot. A Christian is free to marry anyone as long as that person is a Christian of the opposite sex. (The Scriptures condemn homosexuality–1 Cor. 6:9.) Paul put it another way in 2 Corinthians 6:14ff. He exhorted the Corinthian Christians not to be ,unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Marriage is the heaviest yoke of all. Consequently, when it comes to marriage, the choices of whether or not to marry, when to marry, and who to marry are all parking spaces within God’s moral will. The boundaries of the parking lot are simply that it is God’s will that a believer marry a fellow believer of the opposite sex. What, then, is the criteria for deciding on which parking space is the best choice? The Importance of Wisdom I’m going to write this with red fire in the sky. In making non- moral (but important) decisions, the Lord has given us a criteria by
It is significant that we are described as being slightly lower than the angels rather than being slightly higher than the beasts. Our place and privilege is to be a mediating figure, but to be one who looks up rather than down. When we sever the tie that binds us to God and try to cast off God's rule, we do not rise up to take God's place, as we desire to do, but rather sink to a more bestial level. In fact, we come to think of ourselves as beasts ('the naked ape') or, even worse, as machines.
James Montgomery Boice