Note: God desires the man to defend and protect what is most precious to Him
God desires man to be a vessel used by Him to protect His most precious institution (the family)
She is not to be treated as a piece of property, as was the custom in Paul’s day.
Ephesians 5:21-33 NIV21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
- Colossians 3:18-20 NIV Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
- 1 Peter 3:7 NIV. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
Note: The marriage relationship is now set out as being a reflection of the relationship between Christ and his church. This raises it to an unimaginably lofty level.
- 1 Corinthians 11:12 NIV. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
- 1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.
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.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Note: Paul does not add the words “but I am talking about Christ and the church” as if he has been diverted from his theme. Rather, he is saying that so far as he is concerned, he refers the mystery to the relation between Christ and the church
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.