#DailyDevotion Living As Husband & Wife In Christian Marriage
Ephesians 5:22–33 22You married women, obey your husbands as you obey the Lord, 23because a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the Head of the church, which is His body that He saves. 24Yes, as the church obeys Christ, so wives should obey their husbands in everything. 25You husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it 26to make it holy by washing it clean with water by the Word, 27to have the church stand before Him as something wonderful, without a spot or a wrinkle or anything like that; yes, it should be holy and without a fault.
Following verse 21 which says, “As you respect Christ, submit to one another,” Paul starts showing how that looks in our relationships in Christ. Submitting to one another in Christ actually goes back to the beginning of chapter four where Paul calls us to live as those called by God. He tells us there also to live in the light and not in our former darkness and finally such submitting is part of being filled with the Spirit. Looking at how people view marital relationships today there is no doubt Paul’s guidance here is of the light, not the darkness and shows how we are filled with the Spirit.
So in marital relationships wives show they are filled with the Spirit and living in the light by submitting to, obeying, their husbands as the they obey the LORD Jesus Christ. There is no sidestepping this. Why do Christian wives obey the LORD? Because they trust and believe in Him. Why wouldn’t a wife submit to and obey her husband? Or my better question pre-marriage, why would you marry someone you don’t trust and believe in? If you don’t trust him where you can commit to marrying him, don’t marry him. In pre-arranged marriages, this question doesn’t have as much mileage. Nevertheless, a wife should obey her husband in everything. Everything obviously doesn’t include things that oppose the will of God revealed in the Scriptures. But as the Church obeys Christ in everything so should the wife. Ultimately, the husband is the one that is responsible for everything that happens in that marriage. If he has ultimate responsibility the buck should stop with him.
The husband submits to his wife by loving his wife as Christ loved the Church. Christ loved the Church by sacrificing himself for her. In similar fashion husbands should sacrifice their own desires, wants and the like for the sake of his wife. He should put his wife first in everything just as Jesus did the Church. He gives himself up for his wife. The husband should look at his wife as something wonderful, without spot, winkle or anything like that, holy and without a fault. The husband is called not to see her weight, wrinkles, age spots, stretchmarks or any other fault another man may see. She is his beautiful bride all their lives together.
If husband and wife live this way together each submitting to the other in this manner then they will be living in the light and walking in the Spirit.
We see here Jesus has made us holy and blameless with the water and the word, in other words, baptism. There he has joined himself with us, taking all our faults into himself and giving us his glory and honor. The husband joined to his wife is called to do likewise.
Heavenly Father, bless all married couples with your Spirit so they may live in the light and be examples of Christ and his Church to the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.