Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives and Husbands
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for 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." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Some people read these verses and think that St. Paul is chauvinistic, especially in teaching women to submit to their husbands...St. Paul tells us that the husband is the head of the wife...Christ is the head of the church...As the church submits to Christ, so should wives submit to their husbands in everything...
Husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loves the church...Jesus is divine and makes the church holy...He cleanses the church with His divinity and His holy word...Jesus is sinless...He makes the church holy and blameless...
Submission and love does not mean participating in sin...St. Paul does not mean that husbands are to sin against their wives when he uses the words submission and is the head of the wife...St. Paul taught about the Father and the Son...We know that God is love...
If we could only follow Jesus' teachings perfectly, then everything in the church would be holy and blameless...But we are only men...We are to be perfect, because He is perfect...We are to be holy, because He is holy...But we sin and fail...Jesus is not of this world but from above...We are from and of this world...St. Paul is telling us this is how we should live our lives on earth...Wives should submit to their husbands in the LORD and husbands should submit to the LORD and love their wives...Husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies...He who loves his wife, loves himself...
St. Paul is peaking in the spiritual...Jesus teaches us to love "one another"...Jesus also teaches us to love our "neighbor"...Our spouses are more special than "one another"...Our spouses are more special than our "neighbor"...This is because a man will leave his father and mother and become united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh...This is a mystery, but Jesus teachings are about God and love and sharing in both of God and love...When we better understand God and love of our neighbor, we are more obedient to Him...We can submit to others...We, through this love (the kind of love that Jesus teaches), can put aside our interests for the interests of others...