Ephesians 5:22-27
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
On more than one occasion I have heard it taught or said that while the Bible commands a man to “love his wife as Christ loved the church,” nowhere does it say that a wife is commanded to love her husband. First of all, I feel sorry for those that actually think that. I mean what would even lead to such a school of thought? However, I believe that if we take a closer look at the text, we will see that though it may not say it, it implies it in a big way.
It’s true that Scripture teaches husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and in order for us to understand what that looks like, we simply have to look at the life of Jesus; His example, His sacrifice, His humility and service, His protection and provision, and His loving pursuit of mankind. On the flip-side, if we are going to understand what godly submission looks like within a marriage relationship, we have to look at the response of the church to the love of Christ.
How do you show your devotion to Jesus? The easy answer is found in the words of Jesus himself. When asked what the greatest command was, Jesus quickly replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
Love is the chief characteristic of a follower of Jesus. Jesus teaches that “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” How could this not also be the chief characteristic of a godly marriage?
The picture that Scripture paints of godly submission in the context of a marriage relationship is a beautiful one. It is one of unconditional, unrelenting love. It is one of passionate pursuit, and deep devotion. It is one of honor and respect.
Maybe Sinatra was on to something when he sang, “Love and marriage…they go together like a horse and carriage. This I tell you brother, you can’t have one without the other.”
Jesus himself would certainly agree with that.
