“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 washing with water through the word… In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” Ephesians 5:22-26, 28
This set of verses is arguably one of the most misinterpreted set of
verses in the Bible. I know, as a
believer, I misinterpreted these verses.
Then, I was taught better. Thank
goodness for pre-marital counseling!
Let me tell you what this verse does not say:
It does not say that the husband rules over the wife as if marriage is a dictatorship.
It does not say that the wife is always to do what her husband asks of her.
It does not say that the husband and wife cannot make decisions together
It does not say that Jesus believes men are better than women.
It does not say that the husband rules over the wife as if marriage is a dictatorship.
It does not say that the wife is always to do what her husband asks of her.
It does not say that the husband and wife cannot make decisions together
It does not say that Jesus believes men are better than women.
Let me tell you what this verse does say:
It does say that wives are to respect their husbands.
It does say that husbands are to respect their wives.
It does say that husbands are to love their wives the way Christ loved the church.
It does say in order to love your wife you must love yourself.
It does say that wives are to respect their husbands.
It does say that husbands are to respect their wives.
It does say that husbands are to love their wives the way Christ loved the church.
It does say in order to love your wife you must love yourself.
How can we misinterpret the beauty of these verses? Yes, it says for women to submit. Do not look into that and go all
feminist. It simply means that wives
need to respect their husbands. Jesus
does state that the man is to be the spiritual leader. So ladies, don’t step on their toes. Let them do their job as the spiritual
leader.
How beautiful a comparison: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through
the word. This is a bigger deal than
the whole submitting part, to me. God is
asking husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church – that’s a
pretty big commitment! Much more of a
commitment than submitting (read: respecting) your husband. Therefore, husbands love so much that you
would give yourself up for your wife. If
you love your wife, you then must love yourself. I’m not talking about in a vain sense. I’m talking about you have so much respect
for yourself and God that loving your wife comes natural.
With all that is going on in the world, this is a good reminder
for us all. I am a sinner. I fail.
I don’t love my husband every day the way I should. I don’t submit and respect him every day like
I should. Thankfully I have a glorious
Savior that died for me, to cover my sin.
I was taught the beauty in these verses and wanted to pass it along. The big picture is: Selflessness > Selfishness.
