Bible Study Notes on Being a Husband Part 1

Ephesians 5:23-33  -  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

 

-First, note husbands are to be the head and savior of the household just like Christ was the Head and Savior of the church body. Love is the essential ingredient here. Love will lead to giving up our rights in selfless sacrifice for the sanctification (to set apart for a sacred purpose, to set free from sin, consecration, purifying, blessing) of our home. Notice the nourishing and cherishing aspects of the man’s role in the family structure. God has wired man to take on this responsibility and role as members of His church body in the home. The other admonition here is to leave and cleave (Ephesians 5:31). Too many households are interrupted by former father’s and mother’s unduly imposing their influence and power over a new situation. The one new flesh takes a new dynamic that is autonomous in subjection to the Lord and no longer under the authority of previous parents. This doesn’t mean that we don’t receive help and advice from our parents any longer, but they do need to understand that their interference with a newly formed family can undermine and interrupt the institution that God has ordained in disruptive and profound ways.