Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson

Douglas Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, ID, and editor of Credenda Agenda magazine has written a concise, yet thorough treatise on marriage. At first, I was hesitant to read it, not because I was afraid it would make me feel guilty about my own marriage, but because somewhere I had the notion that Wilson (as have so many authors on this subject), would place emphasis on specific application rather than teach principled truth. I was pleasantly surprised.

Wilson's very strong tone at the start makes his book a little difficult to read (I have been around many in the ministry who, while they have a heart to teach people, don't necessarily seem to have a heart to help people). However, after getting through the first couple of chapters, I was finally able to put the tone behind me and read the words for what they were.

Some of the chapters Wilson includes are "A Practical Theology of Marriage," "Headship and Authority," "Duties of Husbands and Wives," and "Multiplying Fruitfully". It is important not to just read the chapter headings and assume you know what he is going to say, as I did; this book was not about keeping women barefoot and pregnant, silent, subservient; rather Wilson simply took biblical teachings and explained them in a very sound way.

Reforming Marriage reminded me of many things, one of which was to keep short accounts. Wilson says, "Keeping short accounts means that an individual does not postpone confession of sin if confession is necessary...Sin should be confessed as soon as it is understood to be sin." He goes on to say, "Nothing good was ever accomplished through postponement of confession...Sin disrupts relationships. Sin never 'blows over.' If the mere passage of time could deal with the problem of sin, the Son of God died for no reason."

After reading this book, I walked away with a renewed understanding of both the purpose of my marriage, as well as my role within that purpose. If I could find more books which treat the topic of marriage the way Wilson does (albeit, maybe with a bit of gentler tone) I would probably read one every few months for the very objective of remaining steadfast in my responsibilities.

http://www.canonpress.org