A Biblical View on Relationships: Singleness, Dating, Courtship, Marriage, and Sex

By Angelo Shamoon

We live in a world today amongst brothers and sisters who are hurting. The result of depression in singleness, broken relationships, unhappy marriages, and lacking intimacy with children. Why does it have to be this way? The keyword here is relationships; lack of Christ-centered relationships to be exact! As a people, we have failed to live by the practical steps provided in Scripture and have opted for something else. We have opted to do things our way and not God's way.

It's no news now that we have failed with our flawed system, therefore, the sensible thing to do now embraces what the Bible offers. How to build true, supportive, personal, faith-building, and selfless relationships between men and women. This is what I desire to do for you through this book using God's Word as our ultimate authority — the Bible.

The Bible is ultimately about relationships because that is who God is and so it is what we are made for. Relationships are the living breath of life by the Holy Spirit. We are not just to show love but have relationships of love in our marriages, in our single lives, and in every other relationship we have. God is calling us to possess a special kind of Gospel empowered relationship with those around us that we cannot accomplish apart from His Holy Spirit. These kinds of relationships can be learned from and through the relationships we witness throughout Scripture and the advice we are taught around the good and the bad. This book provides a gentle walk-through the richness of Scripture in light of singleness, courtship and marriage. I pray that this book will help you unlock godly principals in your life so you can begin building on them to enjoy Gospel empowered relationships in all forms of relationship God provides for you.  

May God give us the desire and the ability to minister the types of relationships that adorn the Gospel and bring Glory to Him.

 

Take a look at what others have said about this book:

 

Cynthia Says: "As a Christian, I found this book heartwarming and informative. I know from experience that all relationships need God. This book provides scripture and great advice. Very well done. I think it would make a great addition to church libraries."

 

David PhD says: "A healing and heartwarming guide"

 

Daniel says: "This is an excellent survey and introduction to the biblical theme of relationships. It covers singleness, courtship and marriage in depth yet always connects back to the core message of the Gospel and the dignity of each person as an image-bearer of God. Early on, special attention is paid to formative relationships between romantic partners in the Old Testament which lays a strong foundation for the Christological vision laid out in later chapters. Each chapter is also expertly organized with a helpful discussion questions, a conclusion, and even a section for notes. Although a great range of content is discuss, the writing is crisp and lucid, always engaging the audience and challenging them to dig into further. Readers of all backgrounds will find this a very helpful introduction to Biblical teachings on relationships."

 

Jack says: "Very insightful!"

 

Kate says "Great timeless advice on this topic"

 

Matthew Says: "A must read. This book really opened my eyes & mind to biblical marriage."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors Hub
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201023164

Book preview

God the Three in One

Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV ) As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Just as Christ is the center of the loving eyes of His heavenly Father - Father, Son, and Spirit: Three in One - so is He the center of our relationships. God is not just the creator of relationship, but He is relationship. God is not God without the ongoing relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit, out of which He created us in love. How do we know this? Let us start at the beginning.

Genesis. This word comes from the Greek origin word: geneseos. This word means the following: birth, genealogy and history of origin. It is the wondrous book of the beginning! In Genesis 1:26-27 we discover the first instance of the Triune relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit creating man to partake in that relationship.

Genesis 1:26-27 (AMP) Then God said, Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that

creeps and crawls on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Let me ask you something. When you think of God – doing His thing and creating the heavens and the earth – how do you picture Him? Is He kind of old? White beard, big boned? Creating a universe out of boredom? As a kid I thought, He must have been real lonely up there. I’m happy He had the power to make a family.

For so long it had not occurred to me that God was not alone in eternity past. Not only that, but the act of creating the world was more of a desire than a necessity to God.

God did not need us in order to fill a void within Himself or have a sense of purpose. What I mean by this is that God was completely content within Himself and out of the deep love shared within the Godhead, He chose to create and invite Man into that love. Shortly after Man was created, they severed this relationship through their disobedience and now broke the unity that God and Man once had. God now responds, out of His nature which is relationship and redeems and reconciles us back to Himself by coming to Earth in the Person of Jesus, suffering an excruciating death on the cross, and resurrects back to life, to restore that which was lost – relationship between God and Man. Out of deep desire and love, Jesus may have been separated from His Father in the sense that we can see and understand, to do His work which we read in 2 Corinthians 5:19 "...that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.". But the reality is, Jesus was in perfect union with Father and Spirit the whole time! Jesus (God) is relationship and relationship is rooted in unity and oneness.

1 John 2 (AMP) and the Life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and declare to you, the eternal Life who was [already existing] with the Father and was made visible to us.

Do you see it there again? God the Father, the Spirit and the Son were present in Genesis to witness creation’s beginnings and loving relationship was God’s key motivator and continues to be so. The saddening reality of broken relationships in our world is not evidence of an unloving God. They are evidence of an unforceful God. A gracious and patient God. Why? Why does broken relationships, war, divisions and anything else that severs relationship prove that there is a gracious and patient God? Simply because that is the way it was never meant to be when God created mankind. We disobeyed, we rejected God’s right to rule and reign, we turned our backs towards God and our hearts inwardly loving ourselves. But it is God and always has been God who graciously and lovingly chases after mankind with one Goal – unity once again!

John 17:22-23 (NIV) "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." Loving relationships on Earth, as we will explore, is an obligation. It is that same desire expressed through the creation story. Relationship, much like the Gospel, is a story of love reciprocated.

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CHAPTER 1

Acknowledging Old Testament Relationships

T

he relationships we witness throughout the Old Testament hold a whole lot of proof that God can and will use anyone. Despite the obvious need for a people to be pure, good and clean – God repeatedly shows his acceptance for those who are not quite there. I mean, ‘not quite there’ is the understatement of the century. This chapter provides a helpful overview of some relationships we see throughout the Old Testament. The raw detail of these relationships is often hidden from Sunday sermons in order to make them suitable for young ears. It also avoids awkwardness post-service: Would you like to discuss the orgies learned today with your morning coffee, Brenda? I think not. Thanks, though.

I will mention only a few examples of some names you have probably heard more than once; This would otherwise be a seriously long chapter. Don’t worry; you’ll get the idea.

The purpose of these reflections is to help you to stand firm on the reality of Scripture in the face of adversity in your own relationships.

Old Testament Love Stories

Adam and Eve

Iknow, I know. We’ve heard this one plenty before. But for the sake of efficiency and duty to honor God’s Word as eternal and life-giving – we shall recap.

Genesis 3:8 (AMP) And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, so the man and his wife kept themselves hidden from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3: 12 (AMP) And the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me – she gave me from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate.’

Okay ... so Mankind is not off to a great start. The honeymoon phase did not last too long either. The intimacy of relationship’s original design was stripped of its innocence. What was once beautiful is now ugly, full of guilt, fear, and shame. This included not only physical nakedness, but the nakedness of the human soul.

The story