Ephesians 5:25-33
"Paul's exhortation to wives
here would strike most ancient
readers as quite weak." (The
IVP Bible Background Commentary)
5:25
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her"
"Love" is the word "agapao" - the kind of love that God has. It is
an unselfish love. Based on the character of the person doing the loving. It is
a love that strives for the well being of the other person. In other words, it
is a love that is focused on the other persons needs, wants, interests and will
submit its on will and advantage for the benefit of the object of this love. Other
words for love that Paul could have used were:
1. erao - sexual passion of
man and woman
2. phileo - friendship love
3. storgeo - natural affection
within the family
What
Christ Did |
Illustrations
|
Application
to Husbands |
Loved the church |
|
Agapeo - selfless love |
Gave himself up |
|
Self-sacrifice |
Made her holy |
|
Set her apart |
Cleansing her by washing |
|
Sacrifice for her, Doing for her what |
Present her to himself |
|
Initiate the relationship |
A radiant church |
|
Beautify her |
Without stain, wrinkle, blemish |
|
Help her improve |
|
Love their wives as |
Love yourself Love your wife the same |
Christ feeds church |
Feeds his body |
Provide |
Christ cares for church |
Cares for his body |
Protect |
|
Love wife as he Loves himself |
Consider her as an |
5:26
"to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,"
The sacrifice of the cross,
like any sacrifice, is done for the purpose of:
1. Sanctification (holy)
2. Justification (cleanse)
"to make her holy"
is in the aorist tense which indicates a single act in the past and not a continuing
experience (in this case, although there is a process also in life, but not in
this verse). This is also seen in 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:21, Heb. 10:29.
"water" refers to:
1. Ritual of Baptism, but
not alone for salvation since it is here accompanied with "word".
"word" could refer to:
1. Word of the Gospel as in
Rom. 10:8; 1 Peter 1:25 and Ephesians 1:13
2. Word of the human pledge
3. Word of confession
4. Word of baptismal formula
5:27
"and to present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and
blameless."
Brides would prepare
themselves for their marriage which include bathing, primping, perfumed,
anointed, dressing, adorning, etc. to look their best for their husbands.
The betrothal ceremony in
Judaism came to be called "the sanctification of the bride" or the
setting apart of the bride for her husband.
We, the church, can not do
that for ourselves - "all our righteous works are as filthy rags."
(Isaiah 64:6) So, Christ has done that for us to prepare us for himself.
See Revelation 21:2
Ephesians 1:4, "For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless
in his sight."
2 Corinthians 11:2 - Paul's work was to help
prepare and preserve the church
Colossians 1:28 - Paul is
presenting the church to Christ.
"radiant" - endoxoV endoxos - glorious, splendor
"stain" - spiloV spilos -
spot, speck, fleck, stain
"wrinkle" - 'rutiV rhutis - wrinkle, fold on the face. This is a term
used to
describe physical beauty, health and symmentry.
"blemish" - is not a word in the Greek, but it comes in the translation of the
word
toioutoV toioutos - which means "such a thing"
5:28
"In this same way,
husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife
loves himself."
The husbands love for his
wife is modeled by Christ's love for the church.
Christ prepared the church
and made her lovely for himself, now, at a lower level the husband is to
beautify his wife. Not merely find her beautiful, but make her beautiful.
"Own bodies" - Genesis
2:21 and 2:24 are in mind here and 2:24 is quoted in
Ephesians 5:24
Self-love and self-respect
are not forgotten here, but rather joined to and built on. No man should hate
himself or not take care of himself. It is natural to love and care for
yourself, in fact, here and in Matthew 22:39 (Leviticus 19:18) - "Love
your neighbor as yourself."
5:29
"After all, no one ever hated his own body, but
he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - "
"Feeds" and "Cares" are
both words that appear in papyrus marriage contracts that identify the
husband's responsibilities for his wife
5:30
"for we are members of
his body."
5:31
"For this reason a man
will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will
become one flesh."
5:32
"This is a profound
mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church."
5:33
"However, each one of
you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her
husband."