Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity

by John Fonville, Michael S Horton (Foreword by)

Overview

No amount of rules, software filters, or accountability talks can bring the healing we need.

The war against sexual immorality—which begins in our minds and hearts—cannot be won by trying harder to modify our behavior. This will always leave us feeling defeated and discouraged. But we can win victory by knowing our identity in Christ. We gain clarity and power through the Holy Spirit to overcome sexual temptation as we truly grasp the gospel—what God has done for us and in us. And it’s necessary to have the gospel regularly preached to us and to regularly preach the gospel to ourselves in order to experience consistent victory.

In Hope and Holiness, author John Fonville shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God’s provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. And it is available to every Christian. With a shepherding heart and theological acumen, Fonville answers essential questions for all who desire to honor God with their minds, hearts, and bodies: Who are we? What is the body? and Who is God? Fonville sets us on a desperately needed joyful path of renewed strength and faith-filled purity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802474971
Publisher:	Moody Publishers
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

JOHN FONVILLE serves as the Rector (Pastor in charge of a self-supporting parish) and is the Founder and Church Planter of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, FL. He is an ordained presbyter in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and serves in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese (GAD). John is from Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Gardner-Webb University (B.A.) and then earned his Master of Divinity at The Master's Seminary, and later earned his Doctor of Ministry at Ligonier Academy. John can be heard daily on his radio program, Him We Proclaim, as well as the Him We Proclaim Podcast. John and his wife, Kathryn, have six children and two dogs ("Binky", a Cavapoo and a real dog, "Laker", a Vizsla).

Table of Contents

Foreword 11

Introduction: The Great Disconnect 15

Part 1 Who Are We? 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

1 Do We Know the Gospel? 23

2 Why Do Christians Struggle? 37

3 Who Can't Inherit the Kingdom? 53

4 Who Can Inherit the Kingdom? 67

Part 2 What Is the Body? 1 Corinthians 6:12-20a

5 Our Bodies Will Live Forever 87

6 Our Bodies Are United with Christ 103

7 Our Bodies Are Temples of the Holy Spirit 117

8 Our Bodies Were Bought by Christ on the Cross 133

Part 3 Who Is God? 1 Corinthians 6:20b

9 The Goal of Sexual Purity 147

Acknowledgments 165

Notes 167

Bibliography 183

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I have desperately searched for the 'gospel' approach to Christianity that John Fonville writes about in Hope and Holiness. John brings his breadth of theological learning and his conviction about the power of the Holy Spirit to the timely topic of sexual holiness. Using 1 Corinthians 6 as his starting point, he unpacks a way for sexual purity that challenges the old 'do more' and 'try harder' approaches. This book contains the most liberating message the world has ever heard—that God wants 'us' before He wants our behavior, and when He has us, our changed hearts respond with love and obedience. I don’t know of another book that addresses sexual purity with such clarity and Christ-centered convictions. I believe God will use this book to bring hope and healing to performance-weary Christians who need to know and grow in the constancy of God’s love.”
—Chuck Collins
Director, Center for Reformation Anglicanism

“What does it take to have real victory over sexual sin? Here John Fonville calls out the church’s flailing attempts to help those ravaged by pornography and other destructive habits—and lights a path toward true transformation through the power of God.”
—Eric Metaxas
#1 New York Times bestselling author and host of the nationally syndicated Eric Metaxas Radio Show

“This important book tackles what is perhaps the greatest enemy facing Christians today. Sexual sin is nothing new, but the epidemic of pornography and its consequences have devastated the church and ruined the lives and ministries of pastors from every denomination. John Fonville knows that there is no miracle cure for this disease, but he develops a strategy for combating it that is firmly grounded in biblical principles and practical application. It is a manual of self-discipline rooted in submission to the Word of God and a close relationship with Jesus Christ, and very much needed by everyone active in church life today.”
—Gerald Bray
Research professor of divinity, Beeson Divinity School

“We live in a culture that calls good evil and evil good (Isa. 5:18–24). Truth has stumbled in the streets and those who hold to it make themselves a prey (Isa. 59:12–14). Could it be why America is self-destructing and inviting the just judgment of God? John’s shepherding heart and biblical approach to the rampant problem of immorality and the distortion of biblical morality lays the foundation that will help the reader practically and personally experience the power of the gospel over sin. Don’t just read what John writes in Hope and Holiness—study it with an open Bible. Mark the text. Watch how God sends His Word to heal us and deliver us from all our destructions (Ps. 107:20).” 
—Kay Arthur
Cofounder, Brand Ambassador, Precept; author, The Truth about Sex 

“There is no more thorny issue for the contemporary Christian disciple than that of sexual sin and temptation. With pastoral insight and theological acuity, John Fonville shows us that it is the gospel itself that is the sweetest remedy for our hurts—the power of God to save us and to sanctify us. The tender counsel of this book will be a mercy both to Christians and those who seek to shepherd them.”
—Michael P. Jensen
Rector, St Mark’s Anglican Church, Darling Point, Sydney

“The topic of sexual purity is increasingly relevant. Many books attempt to defend a biblical sexual ethic by emphasizing God’s law and man’s need to obey. Others abandon culturally 'outdated' beliefs such as monogamy and 'saving yourself' for marriage in favor of acceptance and cheap grace. Christians are often caught between rules without grace and grace without rules. John Fonville brings us back to the gospel in response to both extremes. The gospel calls us to God-honoring behavior and empowers us to obey. Because we have been set free from the power of sin, we are free to struggle against our sin. Knowing we are forgiven, we can cast off shame and learn to live in light of who we are in Christ. I look forward to seeing how God blesses His church through this book.”
—Rachel Miller
Author of Beyond Authority and Submission: Women and Men in Marriage, Church, and Society

“Why do Christians struggle with sexual immorality? What is the Christian’s pathway to living a life of purity? Does God expect of us something that is impossible? Author John Fonville answers these questions and others in Hope and Holiness. I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks to honor God by living a life of purity.”
—Gary Chapman
Author of The 5 Love Languages

“John Fonville boldly speaks of sexual immorality, indicating a divine standard for human sexual conduct, but at the same time he calls for grace in dealing with sexual immorality within the church and a grace-informed disposition toward sexually immoral unbelievers that calls us to see them as equal image-bearers of God who are our neighbors and whom we are required to love. Fonville is faithful in upholding the sanctity of both law and gospel in a most critical aspect of the human experience. I highly recommend this work.”
—Kenneth R. Jones
Pastor, Glendale Baptist Church, Miami, FL 

“John Fonville’s book, Hope and Holiness, is a seminal and important book. The church in the West is being weakened and undermined, seemingly unable to resist the onslaught of sexual permissiveness. Many remedies have been tried and, more often than not, failed. Fonville argues that many of the so-called therapies 'tear down' rather than 'build up' as they promote confidence in the self rather than in Christ. What is needed is a deeper grasp of the gospel, which alone has the power to engender holiness. Essentially an exposition of 1 Corinthians 6, Fonville’s book points us to the way in which a deeper grasp of the gospel is our only hope in a culture that has given itself over to unanchored sexual desire. I read this book with increasing excitement and hope and came away refreshed. I recommend it unreservedly.”
—Nigel Atkinson
Vicar, St John’s Knutsford and Toft, Diocese of Chester, England

“When the world is more and more aggressively seeking to pressure Christians to conform their teaching, morals, and behavior to its godless standards, the importance of carefully argued cases for the maintenance of biblical values has never been greater. When so many church leaders and teachers are proclaiming the necessity for Christians to follow the world’s lead in the downward rush to sexual and moral impurity, we need to revisit Paul’s injunction that we should not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:2). When the faculty members of far too many theological colleges seem to be dedicated to teaching their students godless reasons why they should not believe the Bible, we need to spare no effort to proclaim the glories of the Christ, who is the central content of the Bible. John Fonville’s study, focusing mainly on the teaching of Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, is a timely response to secular society’s growing rejection of God’s revealed will regarding sexual behavior, gender identity, and marriage. This is a timely reminder of the clear biblical teaching about the implications of the gospel for the way we regard and use our bodies.”
—Graeme Goldsworthy
Former lecturer in Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Hermeneutics at Moore Theological College, Sydney

“I congratulate my friendJohn Fonville on this outstanding and much-needed book. The reader is taken on a journey to appreciate how the apostle Paul’s gospel ministry to the Corinthian church in the first-century AD is just as relevant for us today as it was for them then. This book will empower many in sexual purity by redirecting the disempowered away from a toothless principle-driven approach to the engine room of Christ, the gospel, and resulting life by the Spirit. I highly recommend this work.”
—Jason Shiels
Pastor of Liberty Church, Mid-Ulster (Northern Ireland) 

“With conviction and clarity, John Fonville walks his readers through Paul’s repeated question to the Corinthians, ‘Do you not know?’ and shows how only the gospel—God’s gracious act of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ—can free us from sexual immorality.”
—Zac Neubauer
President of the US chapter of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion 

“In the sensitive subject of Christian sexuality, John Fonville leads us back to the fountains of faith. With the book of 1 Corinthians and basic principles of the Reformation, John Fonville shows hope for the sexually hopeless.”
—Fabian Mederacke
Pastor at the St. Mary’s Lutheran City church of Wittenberg, the mother church of the Reformation 

“How can Christians find, keep, and enjoy sexual purity in a sex-crazed culture (first-century Corinth or twenty-first-century America)? Steps, programs, regret, fear of discovery, and willpower may apply brakes that slow the heart’s momentum toward shameful fantasies and deeds. But they cannot break the tyranny of lust. Paul showed the Christians of Corinth that only the grace of God in Christ—redeeming, forgiving, transforming grace—can actually break the power of reigning sin and set its captives free. John Fonville’s Hope and Holiness opens up for us, clearly, deeply, and movingly, the apostle’s good news of liberty in Jesus. As the testimonies throughout affirm, believers who have been frustrated and disillusioned by the failures of other strategies will find new, true hope here—in the crucified, risen, ruling Savior and His ever-present Spirit.”
—Dennis E. Johnson
Professor emeritus of practical theology, Westminster Seminary California 

“As a born-again believer and pastor of a church in Ireland, I have journeyed through the same battles as many who are reading this now. I know the difficulties many of us have in walking free from the desires that seek to have us walk in shame and self-condemnation. I believe John has opened an incredible resource, not only to individuals who have tried and failed so many times such that their hope has been stolen from their lives but also for parents and church leaders to have something tangible to help those they know find freedom. I want to thank John for taking hold of a subject so often avoided and opening our eyes to the true power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
—David Williamson
Senior pastor, Connections Church, Dublin, Republic of Ireland 

“This book is dedicated to a controversial topic: sexuality. Especially among Christians, there is no common position on this. So it is good when John Fonville takes a look at a central biblical text (1 Cor. 6:9–20) on the subject and presents his thoughtful and convincingly formulated interpretation. His interest in the gospel as the basis of Christian life in this world represents a new approach that deserves our attention.”
—Andreas Stegmann
Lecturer for church history at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and director for German Reformation Studies at the Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies 

“John Fonville clearly states his aim ‘to show that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God’s provision for the power to live a life of purity, and it is available to every Christian.’ This he seeks to do by focusing on Paul’s teaching in his letters to the Corinthians and by contrasting this with the total ineffectiveness of legalism and all other kinds of discipline and human effort. Emphasizing Paul’s repeated use of the phrase ‘Do you not know . . . ?’ the author shows how the power of the gospel is the only answer—not only to guilt and self-condemnation but also to corruption and slavery to sin. The prevalence of sexual sin in the world and in the church today is such that this book meets an urgent need and will be of great help to many.”
—Benjamin Kwashi
Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jos and archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Jos in the Church of Nigeria 

“In this lively, engaging, and thoughtful meditation on 1 Corinthians 6, John Fonville charts a map of the gospel-driven sexual life, a life moved by the gospel, shaped by God’s moral law, and lived in union with Christ to whom we belong both body and soul.”
—R. Scott Clark
Professor of church history and historical theology, Westminster Seminary California; president, Heidelberg Reformation Association

“I cannot think of a more timely book than one that beautifully and persuasively considers the essential relationship between the gospel and the Christian’s sexuality. John Fonville has been a close friend of mine for fifteen years now, and whenever I have wanted greater clarity on an issue’s relationship to the gospel, he is the one I’ve called. He’s never failed to provide me with the clarity I’ve needed. So, I am thrilled that everyone else can now benefit from John’s gospel-saturated wisdom and insight as I have these many years.”
—Dan Cruver
Resource manager at Desiring God; editor/coauthor of Reclaiming Adoption

“This book is for the weary, the struggling, the Christian whose joy has been drained as a result of sexual brokenness. It is simple, yet profound, cutting right to the heart of godliness, particularly sexual holiness. It is discerningly countercultural, illustrating the dead end that society’s morality will lead to with its emptiness and inadequacy. In this extended application of (principally) 1 Corinthians, it also runs contra a prevailing church culture that answers sexual brokenness either by changing its teaching (to accommodate) or burdening its members with new techniques to conquer sexual temptation. Both of these deny the gospel, and John Fonville, knowing both the gospel of God and the human heart, gently pastors the reader to know Christ, His love, grace, and acceptance, and to rejoice, living fully in it. This is a refreshingly different book, drawing on (among others) Calvin and Cranmer, and freshly written for this moment in a way we so desperately need. It needs to be shared widely so every Christian can drink from its deep well of gospel truth and refreshing grace. It gives me great pleasure to fulsomely commend its contents.”
—Trevor Johnston
Senior pastor/rector, All Saints’ Church, Belfast 

“Confronting the proverbial elephant in the evangelical room, John Fonville takes a fresh look at 1 Corinthians 6:9–20 to help Christians who struggle with sexual sin. In so doing, he eschews tired traditional exhortations to simply try harder at self-shaming and self-denial as the way to biblical purity. Instead, Fonville shows how the apostle Paul applied the law-gospel distinction to the rampant sexual immorality among the saints of God in Corinth. For while the law tells us how to live, only the gospel empowers us to do so. Consequently, Paul reminded his readerswhom God had already made them to be in Christ. As a deeply experienced pastor, Fonville wisely does the same. He urges his readers to constantly remind themselves of that foundational gospel truth, which is the root of all Christian holiness: only God’s love for sinners will inspire sinners to love God more than sin.”
—Ashley Null
Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies