Ephesians 5:25-27, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 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."

This morning, the world is off on a great many things, but perhaps the subjects of love and marriage more than any other. Consider how much the scope of those two subjects has changed in the public's eye in the last 50-100 years. As little as half a century ago, the general populace and elected government would not have considered for a moment the idea of homosexual marriages or many of the other social evils that we observe today. Divorce was less common, even condemned in the community. Love was considered enduring rather than a flighty and shifting emotion. How rapidly the decline can be, and our eyes have seen the concepts of love and marriage run through the public mud to the point where many professing Christians have a greatly skewed view of them.

No discussion on love and marriage can justifiably begin until we first consider God, His love, and the concept of our Husband Jesus Christ. Probably one of the more easily quoted verses of the Bible is Ephesians 5:25, for it is quite often spoken somewhere during a wedding ceremony. However, that verse, as seen above, is but the opening thought of the sentence that compasses our three study verses above. Verse 25 is only part of the thought of Paul's sentence. Furthermore, Paul has been building the context of love and commitment for quite some time during this epistle. Therefore, let us consider this sentence and see how the Bible puts the ideas of love and marriage before us.

When Paul compares the love a husband should have for his wife to Christ's love for His bride, it behooves us to stand back for a moment to contemplate the love of God. We will never fully comprehend it, but let us for a moment try to "scope out" some thoughts about it. Paul has already indicated that God's love is great but that we should try to discover as much about it as we can. (Ephesians 3:14-21) Part of what Paul exhorts us to try to comprehend is the length, breadth, height, and depth of God's love. Those four "borders" show just how expansive His love is that is exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. So, how long is God's love? The length is described as everlasting. (Jeremiah 31:3) How broad is it? The breadth is described as reaching all of His people in all nations in all times. (Revelation 5:9) How high is it? The height is described as being where He is and where He dwells. (Romans 8:14-15) How deep is it? The depth is described as low as He came to reach the lowest of the low to rescue us from death and hell. (Psalm 40:2)

Paul has already established a broad groundwork of just how much Christ loved His bride, and that foundation is given as a standard for us to love our wives as well. Just the other day, my thoughts were greatly ignited on this subject by reading a piece by some journalist on how we should know if a marriage is worth saving. Many of the thoughts in the article were good ideas: dwelling on each others' good points and trying to work through one another's faults. However, two things were glaringly missing from the article. 1. The standard of God's word about love and marriage was not mentioned at all (surprise, surprise). 2. The answer to problematic marriages was seeking the help of a psychoanalyst who is "qualified" to determine the "salvage factor" of the marriage. Apparently there are people that deem themselves expert enough to give the probability that the couple should "stick it out" or "call it quits."

When looking at God's love to His people from the four borders above, no husband was more justified than He would have been to "call it quits." However, He obligated Himself to His bride by taking her imperfections upon Himself to blot them out and impute His righteous character unto her. Now, Christ did, in Scripture, declare that man could lawfully put away his wife and be married to another for one reason and one reason only: fornication. (Matthew 19:9) Yet, consider that even that caveat was overcome by Christ to His own bride. She had been unfaithful to Him repeatedly, yet He forgave us and forgives us still. What an example that should instill in us!

A man should be willing his wife long enough "till death us do part." He should be willing to love his wife broadly enough "for richer or for poorer." He should be willing to love his wife high enough "forsaking all others." And he should be willing to love his wife deeply enough "pledge himself to keep himself only for her." That means he should look at her as the one, the only, forever, always, and through all things. Why? The example is there in the ultimate Husband Jesus Christ.

As we mentioned earlier, verse 25 just opens the thought. As Paul continues, we find that Christ cleaned her up and washed her with the washing of the word. Without going into a long dissertation of which church this is, let us consider for a moment the bigger point. Many times these verses (even the whole chapter) are debated back and forth as to "which church" is under consideration. Is it the "militant church:" those worshipping manifestly on this earth in spirit and truth as baptized believers into the successive church? Is it the "triumphant church:" the elect family of God that will be housed with Him in heaven some sweet day? Is it the "local church:" speaking of a particular body at a particular location? Let us just call it the church, for a moment, and focus on the end result of Paul's thought.

Verse 26 declares Christ work in "cleaning up His bride." She was filthy before, but she looks beautiful after. Verse 27 describes His "end result" with His bride. She goes forth without any blight or blemish whatsoever. We could make many points about the glorious/triumphant church being without spot and wrinkle in the resurrection and all eternity. We could make many points about the local and militant church being sanctified here in this life by adherence to the word of God. Indeed, these points are all made when these verses are discussed. What is the greater point?

The greater point is that Paul has further declared the love of God through His Son Jesus Christ unto His bride. What He does is see her through! Men are supposed to love their wives even to the point of giving themselves for her - whether in life or death. Paul amplifies the point by saying that not only does Christ give Himself for her, He sees her through it. For example, what if a man gave his wife a portion of money to shop for groceries, household items, etc. and then left home for an extended period of time? He gave of himself to her, but he did not see her through in the days to come. Sadly, we see much of that run rampant today. Husbands feel that giving the family "something" constitutes doing their duty so that they can do "what they want to do." Husband Christ is not like that. Rather, He gives us what we stand in need of - yea and so much more - and dwells with us in that holy union. (I Peter 3:7)

Whether we want to describe Christ's glorious manifestation here to His church by His Spirit or the glorious appearing at the last day, He continually abides with His wife. She is special and important to Him, for His thoughts are continually upon her. (Psalm 40:17) Therefore, our thoughts, as husbands, should be upon our wives often and affectionately. In addition to this, Christ not only dwells with His wife in seeing Her through, He helps her while dwelling with her. Unlike the husband who comes home and expects to be waited on hand and foot without the slightest of effort himself, Christ sees His bride through with daily help and support. His arm is not slack, nor will He cease to be found faithful to aid and support us. (II Timothy 2:13)

Finally, Christ, as verse 27 states, presents us in this grand and holy way unto "himself." Quite often, we focus on the Bible speaking about being presented unto the Father by Christ. He presents us to the Father by intercession from prayers and supplications. (Hebrews 9:24) He will one day present us to the Father at the last day by declaring the children which God hath given Him. (Hebrews 2:13) These are true thoughts and worthy of our attention, but dear friends, Paul here says that He presents us also to Himself! He is not just pleased to bring you before His Father, but He is pleased to bring you before Himself! He loves you and thinketh upon you.

One of my fondest natural memories was the day that I came for my wife to "officially" pledge my love for her in marriage. Yes, I did ask her father long before that time, but my desire was her present with and before me. Not only did I not send someone in my stead, but I was less concerned with the others that may have been there present as I was with her being there present. When He comes for you, dear ones, He is not sending someone else. He is coming Himself! When He comes, while there will be others present and you will be presented as glorified sons in heaven, He will present you unto Himself! (I Thessalonians 4:16) By seeing us through, He shows how committed He is to us. Love is shown by Him as "committed and affectionate endurance." A song decades ago was written called "All You Need is Love." While the sentiment might be true, the authors of the song showed that they did not understand the commitment aspect of love. He is committed to us to the very end. May we follow His example in commitment first to Him, but also by extension to our wives and those that we love.


In Hope,

Bro Philip