To Have and To Hold
Opening Prayer
O Christ, I submit to You today. Have Your way in my heart.
Read Ephesians 5:21–33
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for 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.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do you have a picture of what a good marriage should look like?Paul now applies his definition of love to relationships within the home and family. The interpretation of these instructions to husbands and wives has been the cause of much debate between theologians—and between marriage partners!
As a single person (and Paul was single when he wrote this), I think that the most interesting thing about these verses is the implication that the most intimate of all human relationships should be likened to that between Christ and the church.
Ancient Greek and Jewish cultures were hotly patriarchal. Men ruled their wives, their children and their slaves. A first reading of this passage would suggest that Paul is reinforcing this pattern for Christians. However, in introducing the picture of Christ and the church as the model for Christian households, Paul is subtly remodeling the accepted norms of the day.
Think of Christ’s infinite and unconditional love for his church; think of our joyous submission to Christ based on our love for him. How can this imagery affect the way we interpret this passage and how we view the marriage relationship?
Apply
Pray the words of verse 21 for yourself in your role within your family and your church.
Closing prayer
Lord, teach me how to live in right relationship with others through a deeper knowledge of Your great love for me.
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