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Marriage of the Church and ChristPrintable Copy

Ephesians 5:22-33 (New International Version)

Wives and Husbands

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[b] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
 

 

Paul compares rightly(Ephesians 5:22-33) that a marriage between a husband and wife are exactly the relationship between Christ and the Church. Three points are brought out, submission, Love, and Respect.

Submission(verse 22-24) - That the wife is to submit to her husband in everything. In the same respect the Church is to submit
to Christ in everything.

Husbands are to Love their wives(verse 25-32) - Husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Christ loved the church so much that he gave up His life for her. The husband must always be prepared to sacrifice himself for his wife! That is the true essence of love!

Wives are to respect their Husbands(verse 33) - As the wives are commanded to respect their husbands, in the same fashion the Church is commanded to respect Christ!

The two things that strike me directly is what the wife is commanded to do, versus what the husband is commanded to do.
The Husbands are commanded to love, while the wives are commanded to respect. I know this point is huge. Wives feed on
love, and their world is love based. While the Husband feeds on respect, as their world is respect based.

The husbands are commanded to Love their wives, because love is a foreign to men. Men are so respect based they need to be told to love. Husbands are stuck because they say they respect their wives because that is what is so natural to them, they tend to forget to tell them that they love them. The woman needs to feel loved, and does not understand respect. For a Husband to say to his wife, I respect you but I do not love you. The wife will only hear 'not love you' and nothing else.

The wives, in turn, are commanded to respect their husbands because respect is foreign to women. Women are so love based
that they don't understand what respect is. A wife tells her husband that she loves him. The husband does not respond to it well
because he wants his wife to respect him. For a wife to say to a husband, that she loves him but cannot respect him or his
decisions. The husband hears only the lack of respect and nothing else.

This ties in to what the Church is doing today. They must respect Christ. Yet today Churches are allowing homosexuality, sex outside of wedlock, and changing the Bible to suit their purposes. The Church says they love Christ, but do not respect his teaching or submit to Christ's will. I have even seen Churches change hymns to soften them for the world.

One such example was from the hymn "Amazing Grace", the line "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me" was changed to "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a person like me". We are wretches and all have fallen short of the Glory of God(Romans 3:23). When any Church changes what Christ has put in place, this Church is telling Christ they love but don't respect him.

I heard a story about a wife who decided that she would tell her husband, that she respected him and his decisions. She decided that she would not mention love but would work on respecting him. She reported that her husband turned his attitude around. He would now listen to her opinion, and even learned to tell her what she wanted to hear so much, that he loved her. She used to think about divorce, but now this is a foreign concept to her.

Right now over half of the marriages that occur, will fail. Imagine if we all applied ourselves as this wife did how this rate would drop. How others looking in, will once again see marriage as a good thing. Applied to the Church, this would again cause revivals in biblical proportions(Acts 2:47). Three thousand believers were added that day, and they preached and did not soften the word to attract others.

My Wife had written her wedding vows as follows...

The day you agreed to be mine, I thought I couldn't be happier. But, I was wrong. Today I became the happiest ever. I feel so blessed to have you, and I promise you that I will spend every day of my life making those lips smile deeper and those eyes
shine brighter. I swear my love for you will strengthen with the years. I will try with all I am never to be the cause of even one tear or to give you one second of hurt. We've both had to overcome a lot of obstacles to be together. the were all worth it
for us to spend the rest of our lives together. I promise to love you until the end of time. I love you so very much.

How can anyone argue with such a vow? This is a vow that the Church needs to make to Christ. This is a vow that needs to be
remembered forever.

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Ephesians 5:22-23 (New International Version)

Neo... June 27, 2009