Words for Husbands (Ephesians 5:25-30)

Today's scripture: Ephesians 5:25-30

Yesterday, I resurrected my comments about wives being subject to husband. I wrote, “… in a healthy marriage, husbands and wives want the best for each other.”

Paul takes this a step further … for husbands, at least. Husbands are commanded to love their wives “as Christ also loved the church.”

Christ experienced overwhelming pain and suffering for His church. He faced betrayal, ridicule, and denial. He was rejected. He was brutally killed. For His church.

And that’s how husbands are to love their wives.

Further, they are to love their wives as they love themselves. They are to “nourish and cherish” their wives.

That means husbands are to “promote the growth of,” and I think that means providing for their wives physically, but also to encourage them emotionally and spiritually. Husbands are also to “feel or show affection for” their wives and to “keep or cultivate with care and affection.”

Husbands are not to belittle their wives or verbally abuse them. And they certainly are not to physically abuse them.

Rather, they are to be, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, kind and patient, not jealous or arrogant (vv. 4-7).

Or as he wrote to the church in Ephesus: to love as Jesus does.