Kacy's First Blog
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22)
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25)
Those two sentences are quite possibly the most popular and most frequently cited pieces of marriage advice found in the bible. And depending on whether you're a man or a woman, I think I can guess which one you like to quote more.
The gender-specific roles are explicitly stated in captioned verses. However, we lose the essence and wisdom of the overall instruction if we take it out of its context (which we often do). Yes, husbands are instructed to love their wives like Christ loves the church ... but all Christians are instructed to "walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" in Ephesians 5:1. Yes, wives are told to submit to their own husbands ... but all Christians are instructed to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" in Ephesians 5:21.
The instructions to all Christians is placed before the gender-specific instructions to wives and husbands. It shows that whatever you're going to do in marriage is something you should have been doing anyway during your singleness just by virtue of being a Christian. So, once you get married, your wife will become just another on a long list of people you've already been sacrificially loving, and your husband will become just another on a long list of people you've already been submitting to. Submission and sacrificial love shouldn't come as a big shock when we get married since Christian living would have provided us a lifetime of practice during our singleness.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25)
Those two sentences are quite possibly the most popular and most frequently cited pieces of marriage advice found in the bible. And depending on whether you're a man or a woman, I think I can guess which one you like to quote more.
The gender-specific roles are explicitly stated in captioned verses. However, we lose the essence and wisdom of the overall instruction if we take it out of its context (which we often do). Yes, husbands are instructed to love their wives like Christ loves the church ... but all Christians are instructed to "walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" in Ephesians 5:1. Yes, wives are told to submit to their own husbands ... but all Christians are instructed to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" in Ephesians 5:21.
The instructions to all Christians is placed before the gender-specific instructions to wives and husbands. It shows that whatever you're going to do in marriage is something you should have been doing anyway during your singleness just by virtue of being a Christian. So, once you get married, your wife will become just another on a long list of people you've already been sacrificially loving, and your husband will become just another on a long list of people you've already been submitting to. Submission and sacrificial love shouldn't come as a big shock when we get married since Christian living would have provided us a lifetime of practice during our singleness.
If you're single and desirous of marriage, see this as a wakeup call to start living out the virtues of the lifestyle you are aspiring to today. However, whether we're single or married, let us all strive to love others as Christ loved us, and to submit to each other. It'll make our marriages and our singleness what both were intended by God to be: a beautiful manifestation of His will, for our good and for His glory.
Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteAwesome perspective Kacy
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