O'Donovan: shared life

Friday, May 13, 2016
Meditation:
    ... But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
    —1 Corinthians 12:24-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Within the life of the church, the paths of the single and the married should not be allowed to diverge. The shared life of the Christian community must become a context in which the differing gifts can be used for each other. There is much still to be learned about this. Are the homes of married Christians an added support for the single? Is the availability of the single Christian put at the disposal of his married friends, for “babysitting” duties and the like? And what is true of the mutual support of married and single needs to be true in a wider way of the care exercised by the married and the single for each other, so that nobody’s home life becomes completely cut off from support and help.
    ... Oliver O’Donovan (b. 1945), “Marriage and the Family”, in The Changing World, Bruce Kaye, ed., vol. 3 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 105 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:24-27; Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:11-13; Col. 1:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, draw Your people together. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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