Redeeming Singleness – Barry Danylak

Redeeming Singleness by Barry Danylak is not your usual book on singleness.  It is not about dating, nor is it even focused on bringing out principles for living the single life.  Rather it offers a tour through the Bible’s teaching on singleness. 

Starting in Genesis, he shows how physical offspring, and hence marriage, were of highest importance in the Old Testament.  Physical offspring was a mark of God’s blessing, and necessary to preserve one’s inheritance and name.  Through physical offspring would come the Messiah.  You did not want to be single in the Old Testament. 

But everything changes in Jesus.  The Messiah has come.  Our eternal inheritance and name are found in Jesus.  The mark of blessing is not having offspring, but being adopted as God’s offspring.  And the focus has moved from physical offspring to spiritual offspring.  Now, it is okay to be single.  Indeed, following Jesus and Paul, it is good to be single.

These are the strands Danylak traces through the pages of Scripture.  He closes by exploring Paul’s sustained discussion of singleness in I Corinthians 6-7, and what that means for singles today. 

By connecting the dots of the Scripture’s teachings on singleness, new insights are gained.  Many books simply re-clothe familiar truths, but I found myself actually learning again and again.  I used his biblical study as the basis of a two week sermon series, and saw the same learning going on in the eyes of the congregation.  His study has become foundational in my thinking on singleness, and will influence directly and indirectly my future posts this week on singleness based on those sermons. Highly recommended for pastors, any who minister to single adults, and anyone who is single.