A Biblical Home (The Case for Submission and Love)

Over the last several months, I have been preaching verse-by-verse through the book of Ephesians at our church. We have now reached Ephesians 5, where Paul turns his attention to God's design for the Christian home.

Over the last two weeks, we have carefully walked through what the text teaches about marriage, family, and the distinct roles God has given husbands and wives. Scripture is clear that wives are called to submit to their own husbands as the Church submits to Christ, while husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.

These truths are often misunderstood in our culture, but when rightly understood and faithfully applied, they reveal God's beautiful design for human flourishing, marriage, and the family.

For those who would like to listen to both messages in their entirety, I have included them below so you can hear them back-to-back and follow Paul's argument through the text. Click each link to listen to these sermons. The Case For Submitting and Honoring Ephesians 5:21-24

The Case For Loving Your Wife Well. Ephesians 5:25-33

The text for these messages is found here: Ephesians 5:22-33

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.