By Pastor Adam Sinnett

From Sept 21st thru Nov 30th, 2008 Mars Hill Church studied the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon). The series, called The Peasant Princess, addressed important, albeit controversial, issues pertaining to gender, marriage, relationships, dating and sex. You can listen and watch previous sermons in this series, among many others, at westseattle.marshillchurch.org under “Media”. You can also follow this link to read questions and answers on Christian Sex (mature content warning) that Pastor Mark addressed on the Mars Hill Church blog.

The purpose of this series of posts was to answer questions posed by those attending West Seattle that Pastor Mark was unable to get to. These are some remaining questions that were asked.

Q: “Why is this series called ‘Song of Songs” if the ESV calls it ‘Song of Solomon’?”

A: The title of this book in the Hebrew text is literally, “the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s” so the Hebrew text titles the book “Song of Songs” while the English brings the phrase together with “Song of Solomon”. In the end, both titles are used interchangeably.

Q: “If they had birth control would the lovers have used it?”

A: That’s impossible to say given what we know of the context. However, earlier this year Pastor Mark preached a sermon on the topic of birth control that can be found here.

Q: “What about Christians marrying non-Christians?”

A: If the question is “Should a Christian marry a non-Christian?” The short answer is “no”. 2 Cor 6:14 states “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers”. (cf. Dt 7:3; Josh 23:12; Ezra 9:2) The immediate context does not specifically have marriage in view, rather relationships (which can include marriage) with unbelievers that restrict freedom to obediently live for and worship Jesus. This, of course, does not mean we shouldn’t associate with, befriend, love and serve those that have yet to enter into relationship with Jesus. We should and must (Mt 22:39). But, it does mean we should avoid knowingly and willfully placing ourselves into restrictive relationships (whether with domineering friends, harsh bosses or unbelieving spouses) that will ultimately threaten our obedience to God. This is particularly true of marriage.

Practically speaking, willfully and knowingly entering into marriage with a non-Christian will go one of two ways: 1) You’ll grow distant from God, or 2) You’ll grow distant from your spouse. If you’re a Christian, and your spouse is not, and Jesus it the most important thing in the world to you, your spouse won’t get it and ultimately won’t get you. It won’t matter how much you have in common in other areas. In the short term it is possible to mask the deep disparity that exists between two people with all the other commonalities. But, in the long run, it won’t work and your life will either be centered on Jesus with your spouse outside or centered on your spouse with Jesus outside.

The ideal situation is to marry someone that loves Jesus as you do so that as you grow closer to him, you’ll grow closer to one another.

For more questions and answers from the Song of Songs series, check out:

Pastor Adam’s Full Follow Up Q&A List

Sermon and Q&A Session Audio/Video

Pastor Mark’s Q&A on MHC Blog