May 9, 2014
MYSTERIOUS ONENESS
Ephesians 5:22-33
Paul Muncy
Central Truth
God has a plan for our marriages (and all of our relationships). The closer we stay to His plan, the better our marriages (and other relationships) will be.
Key Verse | Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 1 5:27 Or holy and blameless 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Dive Deeper | Ephesians 5:22-33
The culmination of the story of creation is a wedding of Adam and Eve. The culmination of the story of the end times is a wedding of Christ and His church. It strikes me that, if God basically starts and ends the Bible with weddings, then marriage must be a big deal to God.
Because God made men and women to be different from one another, those differences must be good. And because we are made differently, each gender has its own specific role in marriage.
But how can I love my wife as Christ loves His bride, the church? Jesus washed His disciples' feet, He never performed any miracles for His own benefit, and He took the penalty for all of my sins even though He is not to blame for any of them. How is my wife to respect a selfish, imperfect person like me? It is only through repentance and forgiveness on a daily (or hourly) basis that this can happen: repenting when I mess up, and forgiving when my spouse messes up. We see these two disciplines in our relationship with Christ as well. He loves His bride and forgives us, and we repent because we love Him who first loved us. The purpose of marriage is holiness before happiness, but being made right before God gives us more joy than any earthly feelings of pleasure can bring.
To the degree that I can love sacrificially, as Christ loves, I will be able to earn the respect of my wife. If all of my choices are made with her best interests in mind, we can have a marriage that is a dim reflection of Christ's marriage with the church, but it will be a great earthly marriage.
We hear today that God's plan for marriage should be rejected, revised, or redefined. But if we practice the principles put forth in this passage -- for the men to lead in our marriages as Christ leads His church, and for the women to respect that -- then marriage as defined by God should be embraced, celebrated, and practiced widely by Christians.
Discussion Questions
1. Men, are you loving your wife well? Would she agree?
2. Women, are you respecting your husband well? Would he agree?
3. Did you have trouble with the submission language in this passage? If so, I suggest rereading the passage, starting at verse 21, to see if that helps.