Greeting everyone
The title of this Sunday’s Lesson is “Marriage: A Covenant of Mutual Love”. The lesson text is found in Ephesians 5:21-33. God defined and instituted marriage as a bond between a man and his wife that provides the proper context for sexual relations and for bearing and rearing offspring.
The man and his wife form a team that should work together to tackle and address the challenges they encounter in life. God formed the man first and commanded him and placed him in charge. Afterward He made the man’s wife, a being like himself to be with him and to rule alongside him. And though they are equal and alike in nearly every aspect, the manner and circumstances under which they were created places the man in the first order of authority.
This is the backdrop for allowing Paul to write that they have a mutual responsibility to each other by saying they should submit to one another. Paul reminds women that their husbands have the first order of authority and that this authority is like the authority that Christ possess over the church. Next, he reminds husbands of the special status their wives have with them. Husbands should love and relate to wives as Christ loves the church.
Christ expressed His sacrificial love for His church by giving Himself for it. In fact, Paul equates wives with the husband’s own flesh noting that men are careful and nurturing with their own flesh. Furthermore, if a man loves his wife, he loves himself. Paul makes the connection between the husband and wife with that of the oneness of the body which is inseparable. He concludes by exhorting husbands to love their wives and wives to be respectful of their husbands.
Marriages work best when husbands and wives respect this divine covenant between themselves. However, too many Christians are allowing and accepting the norms of society to define marital relationships instead of the Word of God. As a result, wives are not submitting to their husbands, husbands are not loving their wives, women are marrying women and men are marrying men, adultery, fornication and divorce is rampant and out-of-wedlock births are becoming the norm instead of the exception. All of which is outside God’s divine will and institute of marriage. If these trends continue, then marriage as it should be will become a rare occurrence.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with the class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section at the bottom of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
