Sex is a recurring issue of interest. I imagine readers are already engaged more fully in this article just because of the topic it flags. We understand why the world retains interest: As the axiom goes, “sex sells.” This axiom’s lamentable counterpart in the church is that sex is often before our attention because sinful appropriations of God’s gift of sex remain a constant struggle for believers.
John Fonville enters this sad situation with a refreshing book about how to pursue sexual purity as a Christian. He recognizes the grave problem about sexual sin maintaining a strong foothold in the lives of God’s people and aims this book to equip them to fight for holiness with the strongest tools to that end.
As a developing exposition of 1 Corinthians 6:9–20, this volume stays close to the biblical text with a focus on practical help for believers to grow in sexual purity. The exegetical insights are often rich and illume the concerns and contexts driving Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthian church.
A striking feature of the original setting brought out in the book is how prevalent sexual immorality was in Corinth. We can easily—and rightly—lament how extensive sexual promiscuity and immorality has spread in today’s Western society. At the same time, we should not presume that we are the first Christians to face profound and widespread challenges to upholding God’s design for sexual ethics. The ancient Christians faced similar pressing obstacles. We then have reason not to dismay, even as we also have reason to keep pressing by grace to uphold God’s moral law in the application of our sexual ethics.
Fonville writes as a pastor with obvious sensitivity and care for those struggling in this area. His heart to care for those with sexual struggle shines clearly in every chapter. He wants to help hurting sinners pursue holiness. Even as his pastoral gentleness bursts through his every argument, with equal clarity he upholds the need to put away sin, specifically sexual sin. He knows that sinners need healing, but also that this healing includes a renewed life.
A driving concern behind this book is that most literature on sexual purity outlines how-to approaches that do not truly equip the Christian to gain ground in holiness. The try-harder and get-better approach to self-discipline may offer good advice at points, but it does not provide fuel to move down that road. Fonville argues clearly from Paul’s exhortation on this topic in 1 Corinthians 6 that the gospel must be the starting point for any real growth in personal holiness. God’s grace is the fuel we need to make real progress in the Christian life.
The world is unlikely to relent in its pressure upon believers to adopt corrupt views of sexuality. Our own willpower will not be enough to preserve any of us. Fonville beautifully reminds us that God will work in us by his grace to restore us and to help us. We should not cave to worldly pressures. Nor should we neglect the staggering grace of God found in the gospel for any other approach to the Christian life. We cannot shame sinners who want grace to grow in holiness. Neither can we affirm practices contrary to God’s moral law. The gospel helps us keep these concerns together. Fonville will help you see how.
©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.
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Harrison Perkins
Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a member of the of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, a Senior Research Fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, online instructor in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction. You can read more from him at Pastor Perks.
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