Page 152 - Ephesians

with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit points out three comparisons to
the ideal marriage and the reality of union with Christ.

Let me state them for you and develop them as we go along. The
first comparison can be summarized in these words, “The
husband is a giver”. The wife is a responder. Now that’s true of
the heavenly husband and the earthly husband. That’s true of the
heavenly wife and true of the earthly wife. God is the initiator.
God always does the doing. And the woman responds.
Sometimes I wonder how people can read the scriptures and twist
a clear passage into the exact opposite.

Some people, some Christian husbands, never get beyond 23a.
They get all excited when they read, “The husband is the head
of the wife” – close your Bible – that’s enough! They don’t
understand it in terms of its spiritual context. You might say,
“That’s easy to interpret, the husband is the head of the wife. I’m
the boss. I make the final decisions. When it comes to a show-
down, if we’re at sorts and can’t come to an agreement, then I
have to run with the ball. I’m the head. I decide”. Some go even
further than that and say, “No matter what, the wife has a
responsibility to submit to the husband”. They say, “He is your
God-appointed authority in the home, the head of the house, the
ruler.”

What flows from that is the idea that the wife is a slave or a
servant. She’s got to obey and do what the man says, because
God set it up that way. The woman has to submit to the husband.
Right wives? Is that what the Spirit of God is saying? Is He
assigning to the husband, as the head of the wife, as the head of
the family, the place of final authority in the home? I don’t have to
clear my throat when I give the answer. The answer is NO!
That’s not what He’s doing. In fact, the exact opposite of that is
what is presented here. If there is any servant in verses 22-33,
it’s the husband, not the wife.

If you read it carefully, the husband is the one pouring himself out,
holding nothing back, giving in self-sacrificing devotion. There’s