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Volume. XXX, No. 5 A Christian Marriage IIThe Mystery of Marriage - Part A
Ephesians 5: 21 – 33 1. Marriage is a great mystery of Christ and His bride, the church. To a Bible-believer, a marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Furthermore, a marriage is a mystery. In Ephesians 5:32, the Apostle Paul says this about marriage: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” God calls marriage a great mystery of Christ and the church! Here, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that God takes marriage between a man and a woman seriously. Consequently, God sets down rules and instructions for the husband and the wife in order that there is proper behaviour, attitude, respect and responsibility toward each other, and harmony and love in the marriage union. In Ephesians 5:22 – 31, the Apostle Paul gives instructions to husbands and wives. “22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” From these verses we find Paul’s instructions as to how husbands and wives are to treat and behave toward each other, and he uses the exemplary conduct of our Lord Jesus Christ with regard to the church, and the conduct of the church with regard to Christ, as the pattern or standard. Accordingly, just like the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the church, wives must submit “as the church is subject unto Christ” (Ephesians 5:24) and husbands must love their wives “even as Christ also loved the church” (Ephesians 5:25). That means, like the “closeness” of Christ and the church, there must be “closeness” of man and woman in a happy secure marriage. This “closeness” is achieved by the wife’s submission to her husband, and by the husband’s love for his wife. 2. The wife is part of the husband’s flesh. Paul elaborates about this closeness in Ephesians 5:28 “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself”. For men to love their wives as their own bodies means that a man’s wife is part of himself. For the wife to be part of the man means she becomes an integral part of the husband! Therefore, according to the Apostle Paul who writes this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when a man hates his own wife he actually hates his own flesh. It is also true that when a man loves his own wife he actually loves himself! This is because the wife is part of his own flesh. 3. The husband is to nourish and cherish his wife as Christ Jesus does to the church. Further, for a happy and secure marriage, the husband has to put in some effort! Paul says “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:” (Ephesians 5:29). No man hates himself. Infact, everyone loves himself too much. In the “perilous” last days, the first prophesied characteristic of this time is that “men shall be lovers of their own selves” (2 Timothy 3:2). The Lord Jesus does not hate, but loves the church, and He “nourisheth and cherisheth it”. He “feeds and clothes” (John Gill) His church because (in the next verse) “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Ephesians 5:30). So, we are part of our Lord Jesus. As we are part of Him, husbands are to imitate Him to nourisheth and cherisheth his wife as Christ does to His church. Hence, in a marriage the husband “feeds and clothes” his wife. The husband is to love his wife. …….to be continued. Elder Michael Lee |
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