In Ephesians 5:25 husbands are told to love their wives. This is the command. But with all the different definitions of what love is, how do we know what we are commanded to do? In Ephesians 5:1 we are told to be imitators of God as dearly loved children. There is our clue as to what the word 'Love" means.
In the second part of 5:25 we are told to love our wives just as Christ loved the church. So, God has given us an example to imitate, but there is more...oh dear ones there is so much more in God's definition.
He said to love like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. When God has a specific meaning in mind, He always defines what He means for us so that there can be no mistake that we can somehow blame Him for our failure to fully follow His commands.
"Gave Himself up for her" is a huge basket full of examples. In fact, we don't have to go far to find some really good examples. If we just stay in Ephesians and begin in Chapter 1 to look at what God says about how God has loved us, and how He has loved us in and through Christ, and how Christ has loved us, we come up with a list far larger and filled with more precision than any of us can feel comfortable about. He leaves us no wiggle room to find any excuse for not treating our wives with gentle kindness, respect, honor, service, etc. Husbands, love your wives.
The only way we can truly love them the way we ought is with God working in us the desire to love them this way, and then giving us the power to love them this way. Oh! That must be why He commanded us to be filled with His Spirit in 5:18 (see also Colossians 3:15-16), allowing His Word to dwell richly in us. |
