Come together with us and see the intimacy between Christ and the church showing the order of God’s design between a husband and his wife. The example is how “the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body.” In order to see this clearly, we must study the relationship between Christ and the church. To discover how Jesus does this, we look to His cross and “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18).
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
Ephesians 5:25-32
Question 2. Are you seeing and understanding the example God emulated to Jesus and from Jesus to our husbands of why submission towards your spouse today is out of pure love? Please share.
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Our goal is to focus on the intimacy between Christ and the church and our eternal relationship so we can better understand the powerful union between husband and wife. This is a message for all believers, whether you are single or married. We who are in Christ share this primary need for intimacy with Jesus, the more we see of this intimacy Christ has given to the church, the more we can love one another. Since God is love (1 John 4:8), He must first pour His love into our hearts before we can pour out His love to others (Romans 5:5).
Erick wrote; "I desperately wanted to love my wife Sylvia this way, the way she deserved, the way Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). However, I was led by my selfish evil desires and lived a self-centered life. I, therefore, became a taker ruled by my hardened heart rather than a giver set free with a new one. As a result without Christ, I hated Sylvia rather than loving and cherishing her like Christ loves and cherishes the church. In fact, I could never have loved Sylvia as God intended me to because I needed to die to my old self and rise to live as a new creation in Christ. And even though this passage in Ephesians 5:25 has been one of my favorite Scriptures, it, unfortunately, was not applied to my life and therefore not a part of our marriage."
“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Here we are called to look to Jesus to understand true love. No one, in history, the heavens or all the earth, but Jesus Himself could have demonstrated such flawless and immense passion.
The first thing we see is that Jesus ‘gave’ Himself. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift giver who ever lived, and He gave His life for you and me. Jesus ‘loved’ us so much that He left His perfect and glorious home in heaven and stepped down into time and space, both of which He created and controls. But He submitted to the plan made in eternity past, humbled, limited, and diminished Himself because of His great love for us. Isn’t this astonishing? Have you accepted and meditated on this truth? Have you thanked the Lord for His incredible love for you?
Friends, Jesus loved the church by going to the cross to cleanse and wash us with water through the word. Jesus the Living Word made us without stain, or wrinkle, or any other blemish and made us holy and blameless. And in doing so Jesus is preparing ‘her’, the church so that He could ‘present to himself’ a radiant bride. (Ephesians 5:26-27)
Question 4. Do you see your spouse without stain, wrinkle or blemish as well as blameless and holy? Please share.
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Question 5. Have you received the truth of Jesus giving Himself for you today? Please share.
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We hope that you are seeing the love, care, and nourishing nature of Jesus for you and your spouse while on the cross, dying for you to give to you. We will continue to study the incredible love of Christ so that we might “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18) in our next lesson.