“Epic Marriage” is a bible study course suitable for pre-marriage classes or a focused bible study for couples. I wrote this particularly to stress how a Christian marriage built on salvation history takes on epic significance for the couple. The table of contents chapter descriptions read:

• Part 1. Your Life Is About to Get More Epic: Seeing the world as Salvation History and your marriage as part of that epic story. Topics include the creation, essence, and purposes of marriage, and the Fall’s effect on marriage.
• Part 2. Radical Love and Radical Mission: Understanding the Christian mission and the Christian marriage’s mission in life. Topics include agape love, the husband’s command to love, Christian submission, the wife and submission, and the priorities of a Christian family.
• Part 3. Fighting for Marriage: Learning how to fight for your marriage in a world of sin-motivated challenges. Topics include the unchangeable promises of Jesus, sinner/saints, past abuse, debt, past sexual sins, porn, and building a home on forgiveness, God’s Word, prayer, the Church, and Christian support.
• Part 4. Fight to Love: Exploring the ‘oneness’ of marriage. Topics include emotional connection, communication, Love Languages, the creation of sex, sex and commitment, and God’s desire for lots of sex in a marriage.
• Part 5. Fight to Change the World: Building a home that can love others in the world radically, reflecting Christ’s love. Topics include God’s desire for Christians (and Christian families) to serve others, children and family planning, and financial planning for gospel ministry and radical service.

Download the Epic Marriage Packet

The Full Packet contains:

• 24 pg. workbook (PDF and Word DOC)
• Workbook with leader comments (PDF)
• cover and back images (JPG)
• 1920×1080 title slide
• Companion handout: Resources for a Home Built on God’s Word

Works Cited and Further Resources

The books below are either cited in Epic Marriage or are recommended as a further resource.

• The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller: Keller is often called today’s C.S. Lewis. He has a gift for taking mere Christian ideas and communicating them effectively. In this book, he does that with the biblical teaching of marriage. This powerful book is used frequently in pre-marriage courses. At times, Keller stretches his interpretation of passages further than maybe they should be, and he doesn’t have the strongest handle on gospel motivation. But overall, the book use very useful. I especially recommend pastors to read this with their wives as part of a devotional routine. This book is cited in Epic Marriage.
• Seven Secrets to an Awesome Marriage, by Kim Kimberling, is a practical guide for spouses, focusing on actionable habits to form, from how to practically making God a priority (and spouses second) to the art of listening, to working as a team. This book is mostly law (things Christians can do) rather than gospel (what Christ has done for us), and as such is not a devotion replacement, but ought to be supplemented with a gospel-driven devotional. This book is cited in Epic Marriage.
• Created for Connection, by Sue Johnson, is written by an internationally recognized scholar for couples intervention. This work is very interesting as a layperson’s introduction to applying emotionally focused therapy (EFT) to marriages. Part of her approach is to stop focusing on what you should do and instead focus on the deep need you have for your spouse. Like Kimbberling’s book, this is not a devotional. This book is cited in Epic Marriage.
• The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman: Chapman’s theory of love languages has not been empirically demonstrated, and it’s likely that the desire for love to be communicated one way more than another may change over time. Regardless, it’s an interesting theory, and he provides a pragmatic way for addressing why spouses don’t feel loved at times. This book will definitely help spouses think through how to show love for each other in beneficial ways. This book is cited in Epic Marriage.
• People’s Bible Teachings: Marriage and Family, John D. Schuetze: For clear teaching on the biblical principles of marriage, this is the book to get. Schuetze is a seminary professor, D Min in pastoral care, and M.S. in professional counselling. His book walks through not only all the basic doctrine and teaching regarding marriage in the bible, but shows the biblical response to broken marriages, alternative lifestyles, and more. If you want to know the Bible’s teaching on marriage, this is the book to get. This book is a recommended resource for couples to own.