God told us:
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the savior of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” (Ephesians 5:22-24)
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it;” (Ephesians 5:25)
“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself.” (Ephesians 5:28)
As always, God’s instructions are to our best.
So looking at submission: It is blindingly obvious that in all situations in life, someone has to have the final word. Either it is on an airplane, a boat, in the army or in a business.
Someone always has to have the final word and the others have to submit.
Everyone knows that this is the only way things can work, and no one would want to fly in an airplane where the captain and the first officer are fighting.
In the same way, in a marriage, it is obvious that someone has to have the final word.
God has instructed us, that it is the man that should be that person.
With having the final word follows also the responsibility, in the same way as the captain on a boat has to take the responsibility.
This puts the woman in a very privileged position, where all she need to do is to submit, and the husband will bear the responsibility for his decision.
This might seem like a bad deal for the husband, and clearly it is better for the woman.
Why?
We will see below, but let us first look at the instructions to the husband to love his wife as Christ loved us and to love their wives as their own bodies.
This again is a huge thing that is asked of the man. Jesus died for us, and to be ready to die for the wife is not a small thing.
Clearly again, the man is the one that seems to have the bad deal.
Why?
Marriage is a very clear picture of the relation between Jesus and the Christian. Jesus is called the Bridegroom and the Christian the bride.
It is blindingly clear, that Jesus did everything for us. He came to earth and loved us so much that He, innocent, died on a cross for us!
We are the privileged ones, where we only need to submit to Him and make Him our Lord. Nothing compared to what Jesus did.
With Marriage we see this picture that the man is the person that is not privileged and the woman is the privileged one.
Wow! What a picture of what Jesus did in His great love for us!
Thank You Jesus!
Instructions to the man and the woman
