What is the Song of Songs about? I heard I’m not supposed to read it
because it’s for married people. If we say we need to read the whole
Bible, why not Song of Songs? If we don’t read Song of Songs than we
cannot we say we’ve read the whole Bible. I’m kind of confused, what are
the spiritual implications for disciples from that book?

I will have to admit that this is one of the most humorous examples of bad
advice being given I have heard of. I am sure the person who advised you
to hold off on reading Song of Songs was doing it in all sincerity, but
let me assure you that it is definitely not a sin to read this book. In
fact, it would be a mistake to not read this awesome book which God wrote
to help you to grow spiritually.

The theme of the book of Song of Songs is physical love between two godly
persons whom God brings together. There are sub themes about loving God
and his blessings to us as well, but this is the main idea of the book.
Those who would advise not reading this book might also advise you to not
attend sex education at school. They would not want you to know about sex
because of fear that if you knew the truth you might fall into sin. Well,
God wants you to know the truth about sex. Sex between a godly husband and
wife who are truly in love with one another is an awesome, beautiful and
exciting thing. We may be embarrassed about this fact, but God definitely
is not. He is the one who created sexual attraction between man and woman.
The physical and emotional act of sex between two people who love one
another is at least on one level a picture of the kind of emotional and
spiritual intimacy God wants us to have with him. This may be one of the
(unstated) sub themes of the book Song of Songs.

I would say that for some of the vivid imagery used in the book to
describe the physical attraction of the two lovers, you may not want to
dwell too long on the specific details, but perhaps hold off on
contemplating certain aspects until they are something you can relate to
as a married person. But then again, I would give the same advice to my
own child when learning about the details of sex. Certainly spending hours
contemplating the nature of the sexual act for a single Christian is a
very bad idea. However, anticipating how awesome a relationship God has in
store for you if only you will be faithful to him and wait for his timing
to give you an awesome godly spouse is a good thing. We should never fear
or hide from the truth, especially the positive truth about sex and
marriage.

John Oakes, PhD