Ephesians 5:22-33
New International Version
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b]32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Saturday - October 8
Women don’t usually like this passage. Submit to husbands? But what about husbands? Well, they should sacrifice themselves to and for their wives, just like Jesus did for the church! So, who is submitting to whom? Is anyone really “above” the other in marriage? This is radical. Marriage is a mysterious image and symbol of God’s love for us, most clearly shown in Jesus. If you are married, may God bless you with the same devotion, love, service, forgiveness, and peace for your spouse that Christ has given to you.