Husband Love your Wife Part 1

Ephesians 5:25-27

Establish the need:  Husband how are you loving your life?

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.

Purpose: Today we will see the command to husbands to love their wives and also the three motivations to obey God in this area even when it is not easy.

• Command: Love your wife (v.25a)
• Motivation: Christ’s sacrifice for the church (v.25b)
• Motivation: Christ’s sanctifying the church (v.26)
• Motivation: Christ’s spectacular goal and patience for the church (v.27)

Context

• Macro-Comment for verse 25-32: For this section on husband there are 116 Greek words (Hoehner, 746).
• This is a lot of words compared to the section on wives in verses 22-24 which uses 41 words (Hoehner, 746). Thus there is more focus on the husband, the leader, to be biblical.
• This is also a lot of words compared to other section in the New Testament talking about husbands such as Colossians 3:19 with 10 words and 1 Peter 3:7 with 25 words (Hoehner, 746).
• This section is on the measure of the husband’s love (Hoehner, 746).

Command: Love your wife (25a)

Passage: “Husbands, love your wives”

Proof

Clear whom this is addressing: “Husbands” (v.25a)

The command: “love” (v.25a)

1. It is an imperative to show command.
2. This command will be restated again two more times in verses 28 and 33 showing the importance of this command (Hoehner, 748). Next week we will look at verse 28.
3. Love is used six times in this section of verses 25-32 (Hoehner, 746).
4. What is love?
   1. While Greek has many words for love this one is the most frequent word for love in the New Testament (Hoehner, 181).
   2. Looking at the verbal form we can see what the word means by how the meaning is contrasted with another Greek verb where we get the word “erotic” (Hoehner, 180).
      1. The verbal form of “agape” has the idea of the subject making a free choice towards whom to show affection whereas the verbal form of “eros” has the understanding of the subject acting on impulse towards the subject (Hoehner, 180).
      2. Thus the former is unselfish and the other is selfish (Hoehner, 180).
      3. Love is more than an emotion but a disposition of the heart to meet the needs of others and seek what is good for them (MacArthur, 14).
      4. Whereas eros has the characteristic of a love that desire to possess and is based upon the object’s worth with Agape it is the opposite: It is a love that seeks to give and not based upon merit (Hoehner, 182).
      5. It is seeking the highest good for the one who is loved (Hoehner, 749).
   3. Used for husbands it shows a husband is to love his wife even if he thinks she is undeserving and unloving (Hoehner, 747).
5. Present tense indicate continuous action.

The recipient of love: “your wives” (v.25a)

1. This command to love one’s wife is unique in the time as it is not stated as a command in the Old Testament, nor found in rabbinic literature nor Greco-Roman era household codes (Hoehner, 748).
2. Notice it says “your wives” instead of other people’s wives.

Practice

1. Husbands do you see this command seriously?
2. Among the many things you are focusing on in your sanctification, is being loving to your wife one of the highest priorities?

Motivation: Christ’s sacrifice for the church (25b)

Passage: “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her”

Proof

“just as” (v.25b)= It indicates the manner of how husbands are to love (Hoehner, 748).

Summary statement of what a husband love is to emulate: “Christ also loved the church” (v.25b)

1. The ultimate example for the husband: “Christ”
2. The focus of Christ’s love: “the church”= This would include Christian husbands, which would then be motivation for the husband to love their spouse!
3. About love:
   1. Same verb that appears earlier in the verse with the command of husbands to love their wives but here it is an indicative showing a statement of fact (Hoehner, 749).
   2. Present tense indicate an ongoing love.
   3. To exhort husbands to love according to Christ’s love of the church is also another way this section is radical (Hoehner, 748).
   4. It is important here in this verse that the similarity between the husband and Christ in the analogy isn’t with headship but love (Hoehner, 748).
4. Detail: “and gave Himself up for her” (v.25b)
   1. This is the evidence of Christ’s love for the church (Hoehner, 749)
   2. In using the term “gave Himself up” this verse shows Christ is the one who took the initiative to hand Himself over (Hoehner, 749). John 10:18 indicate Jesus Himself lay down his life with his own accord (Hoehner, 750).
   3. “for her”= Christ was the Church’s substitution!

Practice

1. Would your love be characterized as a sacrificial love?
2. Would your wife say you love her sacrificially?
3. Single men: Love others even now sacrificially;

Motivation: Christ’s sanctifying the church (26)

Passage: “26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

Proof

From verses 26-27 there are three purpose clause of Christ’s love for the church in verses 26-27 (Hoehner, 750):

1. Christ’s goal of sanctifying her (26)
2. Christ’s goal of presenting the church gloriously (27a)
3. Christ’s goal of having the church be without blame (27b)

The motivation from Christ’s goal with the church: “so that He might sanctify her,” (v.26a)

1. About “sanctify”
   1. Rarely used as a verb outside the Bible (Hoehner, 750).
   2. It appears 131 times in the Greek translation of the Bible (Hoehner, 751).
   3. In the New Testament it is used 28 times (Hoehner, 751).
   4. One can see the meaning of this being setting aside something or someone for God in Matthew 23:17, Matthew 23:19 and 1 Timothy 4:5 (Hoehner, 751).
2. “her” is nuanced, appearing before the verb (Hoehner, 750).

The motivation from Christ’s manner of achieving the goal of sanctifying the church: “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” (v.26b)

1. “having cleansed” is a participle to indicate the manner Christ would sanctify
2. About “having cleansed”
   1. What does the word mean: This term is used 101 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Hoehner, 751). One see it used to describe cleansing of food in Leviticus 13:6 and 13:23 (Hoehner, 751).  It is also used for moral cleansing of the people in places like Leviticus 16:30, Jeremiah 13:27 and Ezekiel 36:25 (Hoehner, 751).  In this context it refers to moral cleansing of the people (Hoehner, 752).
   2. The aorist tense participle here in relations with the earlier aorist verb of “sanctify” indicate this is at the same time chronologically with “sanctify” though “cleansing” is logically prior to “sanctify” (Hoehner, 752).
3. Cleansing and sanctify are two sides of the same coin where cleansing is the negative aspect of removing sins’ defilement while sanctification is the positive aspect of being set apart to God (Hoehner, 752).
4. Instrument of cleansing: “by the washing of water with the word”
   1. “washing” refers to bath (Hoehner, 752). This is fitting with the imagery of marriage with bridal bath of the first century (Hoehner, 753).  This bridal bath was practiced by the Greek and this is used an analogy for God’s love and marriage to Israel in Ezekiel 16:8-14 (Hoehner, 754).
   2. “Water”= Articular to refer to something that is unique. It isn’t referring to baptism but is trying to continue the imagery of bathing (Hoehner, 754).
   3. “with the word”
      1. “With”= Preposition indicating instrument. It is tied to cleansing (Hoehner, 757).
      2. “Word”= This seems to refer to God’s Word about the love of Christ for the church (Hoehner, 756). In Jewish marriage custom a young man would present bride-to-be with gift and say “Behold you are consecrated unto me you are betrothed to me; behold you are a wife unto me” (Hoehner, 756).

Practice

1. Husbands you love your wife that your desire is to see her sanctify and pleasing to Christ rather than her pleasing yourself?
2. So much fights in marriage is about getting one’s way; when the goal is for the person to please Christ it is different with how we deal with annoyance!

Motivation: Christ’s spectacular goal and patience for the church (27)

Passage: “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.”

Proof

“that”= Conjunction indicating purpose. This purpose actually is subordinate to the earlier purpose of sanctifying the church in verse 26 (Hoehner, 757).  In other words after stating the immediate purpose of Christ sanctifying the church we see here a deeper purpose for the church to be sanctified is to present the church to be a glorious church (Hoehner, 757).

The motivation from Christ’s love of the church stated positively: “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory” (v.27a)

1. “He might present”= Appears in the Biblical books of the Septuagint 72 times (Hoehner, 757). It appears 41 times in the New Testament (Hoehner, 757).  Here seems to have the idea of making an introduction for an important occasion which is used in this way in regards to Jesus’ circumcision in Luke 2:22 and also of Paul’s marriage analogy of presenting the church to be betroth to Christ in 2 Corinthians 11:2 (Hoehner, 758). What is amazing is that 2 Corinthians 11:2 shows the role of Paul as an apostle and as functioning as a pastor preparing the church to be betrothed to Christ!  But now in Ephesians 5:27 we see Christ Himself as the Groom preparing the church for the “Wedding”!
2. Goal for the church: “glory”= In its classical use it refers to the honor and esteem of a person (Hoehner, 758). Only appears four times in the New Testament but it appears more in the Greek translation of Biblical books in the Septuagint where it appears 69 times (Hoehner, 758).  We see the concept of someone being honored and esteemed such as in the example Of 2 Samuel 23:18-19 (Hoehner, 758).

The motivation from Christ’s love of the church stated negatively: “having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (v.27b)

1. “no spot”= Term is not found in Greek translation of the Old Testament and appears only here and 2 Peter 2:13 but in the use outside of the Bible it refer to stains such as blood stains or blemishes in the body (Hoehner, 759).
2. “wrinkle”= Term is also not found in Greek translation of the Old Testament (Hoehner, 759). It appears only here in the New Testament but in the use outside of the Bible it refer to wrinkles or folds of skins characteristic of aging (Hoehner, 759).
3. “or any such thing”= This phrase “or any such thing” makes the point there is no imperfection (Hoehner, 760).
4. “but that she would be holy and blameless”
   1. This last purpose clause parallel Ephesians 1:4 and shows how truth earlier is now applied to practical life with marriage (Hoehner, 760).
   2. What does “holy” mean? It is Saint and it means “set apart” and every Christian has been set apart through Christ (MacArthur, 2).  This term is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to primarily things associated with God so its basic meaning means consecrated to God and to the service of God (Hoehner, 138).  The basis of us being set apart for God is not based upon what we do to obtain it but gained by Christ as taught in 1 Corinthians 6:11 (Hoehner, 139).
   3. What does blameless mean? The term meaning without blemish or spot (MacArthur, 14).

All this of course requires the patience of Christ!

Practice

Mediate on this to be patient with your wife.

Pray for her perfection! Long for the day she would be glorious!