A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

by Peter Leithart

Publisher:

Canon Press

, 2006

Overview

At a time when the institution of marriage is failing in our culture, Christians are making a renewed commitment to discover the richness of biblical marriages that are rooted in the divine life of the Trinity. In this collection of wedding sermons, Peter Leithart illuminates the subject from many perspectives, forming a loose, down-to-earth “systematic theology of marriage” that connects marriage with the doctrines of the Trinity, creation, salvation, sacraments, church, eschatology, and more. The result is a series of enlightening and invigorating exhortations for Christian couples at any stage of their married life.

Contents

Top Highlights

“weddings are the last bastion of formality in an age of informality, the last ritual in a culture barren of ritual” (Page 2)

“And that covenant relationship pictures the relationship of Jesus Christ and His bride. But beyond that, it pictures the relationship of the persons of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit constitute the original, the eternal covenant community, an eternal fellowship of love, loyalty, faithfulness.” (Page 4)

“It involves recognizing that this ceremony and gathering is not merely traditional. This ceremony takes place in the presence of God, and the making of this covenant is witnessed not only by the friends and family gathered here, but also by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Page 87)

“A marriage formed by the pattern of the Trinity will be simply this: The husband, like the Father, giving himself in every way to beautify and glorify his bride; the bride, like the Son, giving herself at every opportunity to honor and glorify her husband.” (Page 6)

“This choice to be with—and refusal to be without—each other is the nature of every covenant. A covenant is not a contract; a covenant is not merely an exchange of gifts. A covenant is an exchange of persons. By your covenant vows, you are electing to be only if you can be with, and be for, one another.” (Page 14)

Product Details

• Title: A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
• Author: Peter J. Leithart
• Publisher: Canon Press
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 112

About Peter Leithart

Peter Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute and serves as Teacher at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He is the author of many books, including a two-volume commentary on Revelation (T&T Clark, 2018), God of Hope (Athanasius, 2022), On Earth As In Heaven (Lexham, 2022), and a forthcoming book on God the Creator (IVP). He writes a fortnightly column at FirstThings.com, and has published articles in many periodicals, both popular and academic.

Leithart has served in two pastorates: He was pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989 to 1995, and was pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, Idaho, from 2003-2013. From 1998 and 2013 he taught theology and literature fulltime at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho. He received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England.

He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and fifteen grandchildren.