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The Song of Songs is a beautiful poem of the ideal love between a married couple. While it is not wrong to read this as talking about Christ’s love for the Church, there needs to be a balance between what the text meant to its original audience and what we can learn from the text. It’s important to read the text itself instead of preconceived notions brought to the text.
This is best interpretted as an allegory of the ideal relationship and addresses misconceptions about sex and intimacy. The two pendulum ends are sexual expression (LGBTQ) and purity culture (sex and desires are bad).
Outline:
Longings - 1:1-2:7
Pursuit and Seasons - 2:8-3:5
Wedding - 3:6-5:1
Lost and Found - 5:2-6:3
Growing in Love - 6:4-8:4
Mature Love - 8:5-14
At a deeper level, Song of Songs shows us an ideal picture of love in a fallen world. Marriage is a very good thing, and that relationship should be celebrated, especially amid an anti-marriage and anti-family culture. When the world can look at Christian marriages that have struggles yet persist in their love and devotion to each other, they will wonder what makes that possible.
Brittany Proffitt lives in Dallas, TX, holds a BA in Religion, and is a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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