Courtship into Consummation: Erotic Poetry and Theosis

One of the most controversial and confusing books in the Bible is the Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon as it is often called.

This book is a poem that shows the Movement of a woman and a man in courtship that moves into consummation.

One could argue the Missio Dei is also an example of this movement. I think this is the reason that this book has often been used analogously to the life of God to his people.

If we just look at the first five chapters there is a wealth of poetic imagery that could be applied to God’s initiation in the world.

In the first chapter the beloved man speaks, “you are fair, my love. You are fair.”

This love echoes the love of God who makes Male and Female in Genisis one and calls them “very good,” and the love of a God who so loved the world that he sends his only Son in the Gospels (John 3:16). God’s initiation in our world begins when he creates us and calls us good and loves, and perhaps even “fair.”

As the poem moves forward we see that the Beloved is not content just to see the woman, called “the Shulamite.” NO! The beloved calls her to rise and come away with him.

This call echoes God’s initiation with those to who God wishes to work through. God wants the ones he loves to join into the life of love he has. To pour themselves out in love just as God does.

The Schulamite once called now seeks. She is not content to stay at home but wanders looking for her beloved.

God’s initiation stirs us. As 1 John 4:19 states, “we love because God first loved us.” Once loved we can’t stay at home. Like the Schulamite in the poem we begin to seek where God is moving. The Missio Dei towards us stirs a desire to Join in the Missio Dei everywhere we go. The starting point for missions are the words of the Schulamite as she enters the city, “Have you seen the one I love?”

Although this poem is not strictly linear, by the time you reach chapters four and five it’s clear that their love has moved from courtship to consummation. Sexual tension becomes explicit and the beloved adresses the schulamite as “spouse.”

The Missio Dei is not about making us acquaintances of God. It is clear that Christ has called his church to be loved and love like his Bride (Ephesians 5:32). 2 Peter 1:4 tells us that we “may become partakers of the divine nature.” The explicit union of Man and Woman in this poem points us, likewise, along the trajectory of the Missio Dei in the World.

 Are there any other ways you see God’s initiation toward the World paralleled in this beautiful poem?

Grace and Peace