Tuesday December 04th, 2023
« For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of His body; the Church. »
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is Himself the Savior of the church, His body.
24 And so wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.
25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.
26 He did this to dedicate the church to God by His word, after making it clean by washing it in water,
27 in order to present the church to Himself in all its beauty—pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.
28 Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.
29 None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church;
30 for we are members of his body.
« This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. »
Genesis 2:24 NLT
« This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. »
Ephesians 5:32 NLT
The union of a man and woman in marriage is a mystery because it conceals, as in a parable, a truth about Christ and the Church.
The divine reality in the concept of marriage is that God ordained a permanent union between His Son and the Church.
Marriage between a man and a woman is the earthly representation of this divine plan.
As God willed for Christ and the Church to become one body (Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13), so He desires for marriage to reflect this pattern.
Husbands and wives should consciously copy God’s model for the relationship between Christ and the Church.
Some essentials of this divine model are as follow:
The Church is to be led by Christ as the woman is to be led by her husband.
The responsibility of the man is to see the vision for the family and that of the woman is to submit to the leadership of their husband as they work together to fulfill it.
It is also the responsibility of Christ to provide while the Church puts the resources into use so as to achieve the joint goal.
The man is to provide for the home, in fact, 1 Timothy 5:8 describes anyone who does not provide for his home as worse than an infidel, having rejected the faith.
The woman on the other hand, is to use the resources provided by the man (While also supporting as much as she can) for the good of the home, not for buying frivolous jewelry or shoes, except where the man has provided specifically for that.
The wife being a ‘help meet’ should however support the man as much as she can (Genesis 2:18, Ephesians 5:22).
If we could pattern our marriages according to the relationship between Christ and the Church, we would have many fulfilling marriages today.
Application – Like Christ, husband, you are the priest and provider for your home. Take up your responsibility and ask God to help you.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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