This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence

By John Piper, Foreword by Noël Piper

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Availability: Out of Print

This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence

By John Piper, Foreword by Noël Piper

... Show All

Reflecting on forty years of matrimony, John Piper exalts the biblical meaning of marriage over its emotion, exhorting couples to keep their covenant for all the best reasons.

Even in the days when people commonly stayed married "'til death do us part," there has never been a generation whose view of marriage was high enough, says Pastor John Piper. That is all the more true in our casual times.

Though personal selfishness and cultural bondage obstruct the wonder of God's purpose, it is found in God's Word, where his design can awaken a glorious vision capable of freeing every person from small, Christ-ignoring, romance-intoxicated views. As Piper explains in reflecting on forty years of matrimony: "Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God. It displays the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people to the world in a way that no other event or institution does. Marriage, therefore, is not mainly about being in love. It's mainly about telling the truth with our lives. And staying married is not about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant and putting the glory of Christ's covenant-keeping love on display."

This Momentary Marriage unpacks the biblical vision, its unexpected contours, and its weighty implications for married, single, divorced, and remarried alike.


Author:

John Piper

John Piper is founder and lead teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He served for thirty-three years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your Life; and Providence.

Product Details

Category: Marriage & Family
Format: Printed Caseside
Page Count: 192
Size: 5.25 in x 8.0 in
Weight: 10.3 ounces
ISBN-10: 1-4335-0712-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0712-0
ISBN-UPC: 9781433507120
Case Quantity: 24
Published: April 30, 2009

Table of Contents

1.  Staying Married Is Not Mainly about Staying in Love 
2.  Naked and Not Ashamed 
3.  God’s Showcase of Covenant-Keeping Grace 
4.  Forgiving and Forbearing 
5.  Pursuing Conformity to Christ in the Covenant 
6.  Lionhearted and Lamblike—The Christian Husband as Head: Foundations of Headship
7.  Lionhearted and Lamblike—The Christian Husband as Head: What Does It Mean to Lead?
8.  The Beautiful Faith of Fearless Submission 
9.  Single in Christ: A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters
10. Singleness, Marriage, and the Christian Virtue of Hospitality
11. Faith and Sex in Marriage 
12. Marriage Is Meant for Making Children . . . Disciples of Jesus: How Absolute Is the Duty to Procreate?
13. Marriage Is Meant for Making Children . . . Disciples of Jesus: The Conquest of Anger in Father and Child
14. What God Has Joined Together, Let Not Man Separate: The Gospel and the Radical New Obedience
15. What God Has Joined Together, Let Not Man Separate: The Gospel and the Divorced

Endorsements

"Theologically, this book exalts human marriage as a metaphor for the ultimate love story in Christ. Practically, it applies that glorious vision of grace to our daily experiences in marriage, singleness, parenthood, and the most universal of human realities-sin. This book opens our eyes and guides our feet with the grace of Christ."
Ray Ortlund, Pastor to Pastors, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee

"This book is a treasure in an era when the common perspective on marriage has been more shaped by sitcoms and self-help books than by Scripture. Dr. Piper lifts our hearts and minds to God's vision for marriage. Embracing God's design and purposes for marriage can make our homes tastes of heaven."
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author; Founder, Revive Our Hearts and True Woman

"This is not a 'how to' book on marriage. Instead, this is a 'why to' book. And that's what this culture desperately needs."
Dennis Rainey, President and CEO, FamilyLife; Host, FamilyLife Today; author, Stepping Up

"Miss the radical message of this book and you'll miss the joyful point of marriage. Heed the surprising call of this book and you'll appreciate the sacred privilege of marriage that our culture fails to see."
Larry Crabb, Jr., Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Colorado Christian University

"A highly original contribution to Christian teaching on marriage. A copy should be put into the hands of every couple preparing for lasting and loving wedlock."
Charles Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview

"This book grew out of John Piper's forty years of experience in marriage and many years of parenting, pastoring, and studying Scripture. It is filled with rich, practical wisdom about the nature of marriage as a wonderful but temporary gift from God. I have taught about marriage for over thirty years, and I still found much that I could learn from this book."
Wayne Grudem, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary

"The reason this book is so delightful is that it sets marriage within the matrix of the Bible's fundamental themes: the glory of God, the outworking of justification, the relationship between this life and the life to come, how husbands and wives are to interact with each other this side of the cross, and much more of the same. This is not another little 'how to' book-yet if its God-centered and gospel-centered theology is genuinely absorbed, so many of the 'how to' questions will be robustly answered."
D. A. Carson, Theologian-at-Large, The Gospel Coalition

"John Piper's new book on marriage is an instant classic. It is at once biblical and devotional, the fruit of seasoned theological reflection and four decades of 'momentary' marriage."
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Theologian in Residence, Fellowship Raleigh, North Carolina; Cofounder, Biblical Foundations