Ephesians 5:23-33 

Husbands, if you do not exercise the Kingdom authority God has given to you, your home and marriage will not be wonderful. Wives, if you do not understand your proper biblical place, God’s assigned responsibility in the home, you will miss an incredible blessing.

Servant Leadership

Ephesians 5:23

For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.

Your wife, who is to be submissive to you, has every right to look to you to meet the needs she has as a wife in the home. This is not a chain of command; it is a line of responsibility. (See 1 Corinthians 11:3.)

Luke 22:26b

…He who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

That is the way to be the head of the home. Jesus, the Master, set the example. (See John 13:14-15).

In Christ, we are equal. (See Galatians 3:28.) But equality does not mean sameness. There must be authority. A home needs a head, and the Bible says that head is the husband. You cannot dodge it. 

Sacrificial Love

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…

Passionate Love

Sexual passion is part of married love, but this command in Ephesians means something deeper than that: commitment that comes from the deepest part of your being. There should be nothing too precious for you to give up for your wife—except your relationship with God. She should be your highest love on Earth, apart from Jesus.

Purifying Love

Why did Christ die for the Church? For her sanctification. (Read Ephesians 5:26-27.)

As Christ is pastor, priest and prophet to the Church, the Christian husband is to intercede for his wife, teach her, and protect her spiritually. The husband has a responsibility to make his wife a more radiantly beautiful Christian.

Protecting Love

Ephesians 5:28

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

The wife is the weaker vessel. (See 1 Peter 3:7.) God made you, husbands, to be a man of steel. He made her to be an ornament of gold.

So protect your wife—physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. Satan cannot get your family unless he comes through you. Stand at your place, where God has put you.

Providing Love

Ephesians 5:29

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

Your wife is a part of you.

Provide for her needs, including her emotional needs. It is your duty, and your joy, to tell her you appreciate her. Find her spiritual traits—like the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit, which God says makes her beautiful—and praise those. 

How to Love Your Wife as Christ Loved His Church

Ephesians 5:31-32

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Just as the Church is taken out of the wounded side of Christ, woman was taken out of the wounded side of man. (See Ephesians 5:30; Genesis 2:20-22.)

When is Jesus going to walk out on the Church? He will not! (See Hebrews 13:5.) You owe it to God, to your wife, and to your children to keep your promise. Love your wife as Christ loved the Church.

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