The Blessed Effects of God’s Saving Grace (4:1–6:20)
Husbands
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing 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.
As it is the wife’s duty to recognize the leadership role of her husband, so it is the husband’s duty to love her. God’s one-way love we previously discussed—God’s totally unselfish love for us (2:4,5; 4:2), moved him to give us great and precious blessings, not because we could return and requite his love but simply out of his boundless goodness and mercy. His unselfish love moved him to do all that for us.
Now Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Christ showed the ultimate in unselfish love by what he was willing to do for the church. He gave up his life to win her for himself. However, he not only purchased her for himself at the price of his lifeblood, but he raised her to a most enviable position. He “cleans[ed] her by the washing with water through the word.” Through the means of grace, Word and sacrament, he cleansed her of her many transgressions, forgave her sin, quieted her conscience, gave her peace with God, and assured her of security in his protecting hand.
But what he has done for her on earth is only a small foretaste of what he still has in mind for her. On judgment day he will present her as a bride—not to someone else but to himself. Then she will be a “radiant church,” without any stain from the outside or wrinkle developed on the inside. She will not have any blemish but will be “holy and blameless.”
With Christ’s unselfish love for the church serving as a backdrop, Paul now says, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives.” Christlike leadership leaves absolutely no room for a husband to be a dictator or tyrant. As he looks to Christ’s example of headship over the church, he will find no basis to be selfish or domineering. Nor will he be unconcerned about his wife’s needs or unappreciative of what she brings to the marriage team.
It will be evident that if a husband is to fulfill his leadership role as Paul outlines it, he has his work cut out for him! Fortunately, Christ’s love is not only the pattern and example, but it also provides the motivation to do what God asks and the strength to put that resolve into practice.
To be sure, every husband—sinner that he is—will be imperfect. But Christ’s love will compel him daily to strive for the ideal illustrated by our Savior’s love for the church.
With God’s help husbands can begin to approximate that.