Sex, Love, and Marriage—A Celebration

Sex is worth celebrating. It is one of God's loveliest gifts to the human race. But the loveliness of sex is ruined whenever it is found outside the proper context of marriage. And God knows what powerful temptations come our way in the area of sex. The Song of Solomon is a celebration of sex and love within marriage, as this book explains. Jonathan Bayes draws out the practical advice implicit in the Song for husbands, for wives, and for courting couples. He points out the warnings in the Song against sex outside the context of marriage. The Song of Solomon has often been read as an allegory of the relationship between Christ and his people. Jonathan Bayes does not see this as the main purpose of the Song, but agrees that human relationships are a reflection of that highest love of all. In Sex, Love, and Marriage--A Celebration, Bayes brings out the interplay between heaven and earth. We are directed upwards from human love to learn about that "Love divine, all loves excelling." Then we are brought back down to earth to make God's love for us in Christ the model, which we seek to imitate in our human relationships.