Jesus, the Church, Husbands, and Wives
Jesus, the Church, Husbands, and Wives
Ephesians 5:21-33 - 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for 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." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
This is often considered the defining scripture in the bible, pertaining to marriage. It is true that there are principles here that have to do with marriage, however, verse 32 makes it clear that Paul, lead by the Holy Spirit is referring to the relationship of the Church and Christ. It is important to remember that the marriage principles in this scripture are scriptures of a marriage to describe the Church, and not scriptures of the Church describing Marriage. It is vital that you adopt this paradigm in order to understand the intent of the scripture; with a necessity of abandoning traditional harmful paradigms.
In verse 33 Paul writes, “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” There can be no doubt that Paul is under the assumption that the self love of the husband is healthy and vibrant. Being a true man is to have the character traits of Jesus, which includes honor, caring, integrity, servitude, and self-esteem (more on this later). In no way is it the Spirit of God for a husband that hates himself, lacks caring, honor, etc. is suppose to treat his wife with such sinful attributes. This scripture is not a permission slip for a man to abuse his wife, considering that abuser is filled with self loathing, dishonor, cowardliness and hate. Are we as a Church supposed to treat Christ in a sinful way? Does Christ treat the Church in a way contrary to the rest of scripture in context? Absolutely not!
In verse 25 through 27, we see that the love and leadership that a husband is supposed to provide is a leadership of self-sacrificing spiritual action with the only goal of making her “radiant”, “holy”, and “blameless.” It is not to treat his wife as to create “stain(s)”, “wrinkle(s)”, and “blemish(s).”
Radiant – “present her to himself as radiant”. This is a concept that an abusing husband is blatantly disobeying, thus in need to repent. Presenting a wife to himself is to feed her spiritually, cloth her with kindness, and ravish her with the precious gem of humility (see Colossians 3:12-16 for the roles that Christians and Christ play with each other)
Holy – Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 to have a better understanding of what is holiness. Holiness means to be set apart in God and His commandments. Obvious this is not the case with someone who abuses another person, especially one how twist scripture to meet his own unhealthy, destructive behavior (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Blameless – Innocence of sin is the one who indulges in Christ through conversion and a faithful life.
Stains, wrinkles, and blemishes are words used to describe something unclean, dirty, and marked (abused). Is this how the abusing husband should treat his wife? Absolutely not!
In verse 24 it talks of submission. It says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” The key component in this scripture is in the first half of the sentence. It says “as the church submits to Christ”- Does Christ sin? Do we submit to the sins of Christ? It is impossible because Christ is blameless. As a church we submit to Christ authority as our savior and example of self-sacrificing love and servitude; not in the sin of violence, hatred, and the cowardliness of beating, tirading, or raping someone physically weaker than them.
Verse 21 states, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This precedes the rest of this commandment. To revere Christ is to obey, submit to his authority and examples, honor him, and exude His qualities’; be it either the husband or wife.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no biblical authority to abuse anybody. There is no excuse for the abuse, nor the abused to submit to the abuser. This is not a biblical concept. Peter writes, “…our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15b-16) Husbands (or spouses), or clergy, or laity that use this scripture, or others like it, to force a women to submit to an abusive husband “twist” the scripture, to their own destruction.
Ephesians 5:21-33 - 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for 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." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
This is often considered the defining scripture in the bible, pertaining to marriage. It is true that there are principles here that have to do with marriage, however, verse 32 makes it clear that Paul, lead by the Holy Spirit is referring to the relationship of the Church and Christ. It is important to remember that the marriage principles in this scripture are scriptures of a marriage to describe the Church, and not scriptures of the Church describing Marriage. It is vital that you adopt this paradigm in order to understand the intent of the scripture; with a necessity of abandoning traditional harmful paradigms.
In verse 33 Paul writes, “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” There can be no doubt that Paul is under the assumption that the self love of the husband is healthy and vibrant. Being a true man is to have the character traits of Jesus, which includes honor, caring, integrity, servitude, and self-esteem (more on this later). In no way is it the Spirit of God for a husband that hates himself, lacks caring, honor, etc. is suppose to treat his wife with such sinful attributes. This scripture is not a permission slip for a man to abuse his wife, considering that abuser is filled with self loathing, dishonor, cowardliness and hate. Are we as a Church supposed to treat Christ in a sinful way? Does Christ treat the Church in a way contrary to the rest of scripture in context? Absolutely not!
In verse 25 through 27, we see that the love and leadership that a husband is supposed to provide is a leadership of self-sacrificing spiritual action with the only goal of making her “radiant”, “holy”, and “blameless.” It is not to treat his wife as to create “stain(s)”, “wrinkle(s)”, and “blemish(s).”
Radiant – “present her to himself as radiant”. This is a concept that an abusing husband is blatantly disobeying, thus in need to repent. Presenting a wife to himself is to feed her spiritually, cloth her with kindness, and ravish her with the precious gem of humility (see Colossians 3:12-16 for the roles that Christians and Christ play with each other)
Holy – Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 to have a better understanding of what is holiness. Holiness means to be set apart in God and His commandments. Obvious this is not the case with someone who abuses another person, especially one how twist scripture to meet his own unhealthy, destructive behavior (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Blameless – Innocence of sin is the one who indulges in Christ through conversion and a faithful life.
Stains, wrinkles, and blemishes are words used to describe something unclean, dirty, and marked (abused). Is this how the abusing husband should treat his wife? Absolutely not!
In verse 24 it talks of submission. It says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” The key component in this scripture is in the first half of the sentence. It says “as the church submits to Christ”- Does Christ sin? Do we submit to the sins of Christ? It is impossible because Christ is blameless. As a church we submit to Christ authority as our savior and example of self-sacrificing love and servitude; not in the sin of violence, hatred, and the cowardliness of beating, tirading, or raping someone physically weaker than them.
Verse 21 states, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This precedes the rest of this commandment. To revere Christ is to obey, submit to his authority and examples, honor him, and exude His qualities’; be it either the husband or wife.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no biblical authority to abuse anybody. There is no excuse for the abuse, nor the abused to submit to the abuser. This is not a biblical concept. Peter writes, “…our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15b-16) Husbands (or spouses), or clergy, or laity that use this scripture, or others like it, to force a women to submit to an abusive husband “twist” the scripture, to their own destruction.
posted by P. Allan Frederick at 11:03 PM
1 Comments:
Great stuff. It's very frustrating to hear of people misusing scripture especially when it keeps or puts someone in harms way.
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