Marriage Matters, Pt. 4

In today's devotion, I will be a little more technical as we walk through verses 28-33 of Ephesians 5.

Marriage Matters, Pt. 4

"Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

(Ephesians 5:33)

This week we are studying Ephesians 5:22-33, where the Apostle Paul teaches on the marriage relationship between a man and a woman. I am grateful to God for my wife Ashley. The Lord has blessed us with a marriage built on Jesus and His Word. We will both admit that we are not perfect and still works in process, but we strongly affirm that God's ways work!

In today's devotion, I will be a little more technical as we walk through verses 28-33 of Ephesians 5. In verses 28-29, Paul perhaps has in mind Genesis 2:23, where Eve is created by God, as He takes a rib from Adam and creates her, and so she is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 391).

Paul writes in verse 29 that no one hates his own flesh. When people abuse their bodies, this is most unnatural. "Nourish" and "cherish" both have the connotation of a nursery where a baby is tenderly cared for. "Within the flow of Ephesians 5, there is an inner appropriateness in the husband tenderly cherishing and nurturing his wife since they have in fact become 'one flesh' (verse 31)" (P.T. O'Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, p. 428). This is the way Christ treats us, His body, the Church, and likewise, husbands are to care for, nurture, nourish, and cherish our wives. You may say, "I have no idea how to do this." On October 25 at our church, Steve and Debbie Wilson from Dallas will be with us and will share a powerful message to married couples. If you are in the Austin area, sign up and join us.

In verses 30-33, the idea here is the husband and wife's relationship are permanent, unbreakable, and continual. Paul references Genesis 2:23 in verse 30 and quotes Genesis 2:24 in verse 31. The husband and wife are inseparably linked in marriage as the Church is linked to Christ. In verse 31, Paul quotes Moses, as does Jesus in Matthew 19:5. Moses, Paul, and preeminently Jesus Himself placed great emphasis and value on the sanctity of marriage between a husband and a wife. The intimacy of heterosexual marriage is used as a metaphor to describe the spiritual relationship of Christ and His church.

In verse 32, the great mystery, which had been hidden from those under the Old Covenant, is that man can be made right with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus are His bride, and He is our Bridegroom (John MacArthur, Ephesians, p. 304). MacArthur writes on the next page of his New Testament Commentary, "Christian marriage is to be loving, holy, pure, self-sacrificing, and mutually submissive because those virtues characterize the relationship of Christ and His church."

In verse 33, for the fourth time, Paul tells the husband to agape his wife. Imagine the marvelous marriages we would have if men loved their wives with this kind of love that Jesus has for the church; it is a love that is sacrificing, purifying, caring, and abiding.