Monthly Archives: May 2013

Bible Study

Christian unity and the “mind of Christ”

Philippians 2:1-2

With Paul, you have to pay attention to how his argument is built. One good way is to keep tract of the verbs. See how they interact one with another and you will have a good sense of how he is building his thoughts. His writings require quiet and concentration. You will not succeed in understanding much if the TV or music is playing. Paul gives a list, as he often does, of qualities that are important in the life of a Christian. He is focusing especially on concepts that reside in our thinking, since this is obviously the theme of this part of Chapter 2.

Complete my joy … have the same mind … have the same love … being in full accord and of one mind … count others more significant than yourselves … look not on your own interests … look on the interests of others … have the mind of Christ. Thinking the same way is important. Having the mind of Christ is the goal.

The workmanship of God

The work of God in those filled with grace makes them unafraid in opposition, content in the leadership and presence of God to “comfort and to guide,” and assured of good fruit and usefulness in their labors for God, “for God is at work in you … ” They learn, therefore, to rejoice over every complete proclamation of the Gospel regardless of the motives of the preachers. Let God sort them out. If the Gospel is being proclaimed it is a good thing that the message about the love and death of Jesus Christ and his victory and salvation is told to more and more people. Motives are sticky. Truthfully, are your motives really all that pure?

Proof of his workmanship — graces in the lives of those who believe.

These are operations that are present in every believer’s life and they are there because God is doing these things in us. He presents a set of graces that come into our lives, grow within us, and these are the source of much that happens in us, as we live in the Body of Christ. These traits and actions are the benefits that we receive from the Body of Christ and they are the ministry that we offer to other Christians with whom we are connected in the Biblical Local Church.

“If there be any …”

It is a bit ambiguous in English to say “if there is any” because it could mean “if there were any, but we are not sure about that … ” In this use of the phrase, the meaning is that we have a degree of uncertainly or there is a low probability these qualities may or may not be present in the local body of Christians. In this first understanding of the phrase there would not be certainty that they thing that is referred to actually exists at all. You might say, “If there were any winning lottery tickets in my pocket, we could retire.” But the chances of that are slim.

But there could be another way to take the phrase, “if there be,” to be a first class condition. It is like this: “if or since this is true, then we should take the following actions.” Example: “If we have a flat tire, we need to change it as quickly as possible.” This is not puzzling about whether or not we have a flat tire, it is charting a course for what to do since we are experiencing the tiring going flat.” This makes sense of the phrase we are studying.

Paul is not wondering whether these things are true or not (“do we have comfort?” “do we have fellowship?”, etc.) , he is giving instructions about the how these principles work because they are present in us. This little phrase means here: “Since it is certainly true that these are gifts and graces are most important in our lives, let us pay attention to them and take these actions because these qualities matter and we have them.” This is the way this “first class condition” was intended. This is a strong way of charting a course of action based on real gifts and graces that we have received from God in the Church of Jesus Christ.

If there be any encouragement. Philippians 2:1. Encouragement means to have someone come alongside of you in a time of testing, trial, or grief. It was the common practice to have an attorney or friend, some family dignitary or influential person to come and “stand alongside” of an accused and to speak on their behalf. This is one use of the term. It can also describe someone who can assist you, help you understand something important, or stand with you in your legal defense in a trial or legal proceedings.

We understand the work of encouragement most clearly because this is the chief work and it is the Name give to the Holy Spirit by Jesus in John 15. The work of encouragement is a primary work of the Holy Spirit of God and he is called the “Comforter” which is the same word used here. The ESV: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26 ESV).

We see that the ESV, uses the title “the Helper.” But is that the best translation? Here is the phrase in Greek: “ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος …” In English: “But when the Helper comes …” (ESV). The word we are looking at is παράκλητος, paraklêtos [sounds like the bird, parakete, but with an “l” and ending in “os”; no relation in meaning, just something that will stick in your brain forever]. But the “Paraclete” is much more than a “Helper.” There is skill or relationship implied in this help, an expertise or commitment necessary for help and comfort to come. He stands in defense. He comes alongside to help. He is an advocate (an attorney at law) for the defendant. He is one who comforts in distress and meets our needs in crisis. He brings our case before the Father. He reveals Jesus Christ within our lives. Much more than a helper to applaud or merely assists us when we are tired. Much more than a helper. A Comforter, An Advocate, An Intercessor, The Protector, The One who Prays on our Behalf, and The Counselor (as in lawyer and as in one who gives us counsel). Helper is not rich enough and the linguistic reach of the word is not broad enough. But we see that the work of encouragment is the work of the Spirit, but he involves us in this important work as well.

If there is any comfort (Philippians 2:1). Comfort refers to aid or assistance from another person when you are in distress. This is a word for what a person needs when there is great confusion, emotional pain, or a shock or loss has occurred. The comfort is what is needed after you have experienced a death or loss in the family, or gone through a long and difficult trial or a terrible accident and you need encouragement, strength, wisdom, and help to recover. You have experienced something that has come into your life with such force that it has turned everything in your life upside down. At that moment you need others to come and comfort you so you can be restored. Comfort of this sort is not superficial nor if it for trivial events or small matters.

If there is any fellowship (participation or sharing). This is the key word in the New Testament that describes the internal relationships and connection within the church. There is a sharing of life and a connection that comes when we experience and have in common the same commitments and loves. What is more, we also participate in one another’s faith so that my faith is helped by your faith. You are helped by others also, and when the time is right, your faith is also encouraging and supportive of them. We not only share, we participate in and have fellowship, team spirit, and we share an esprit de coups within the body of Christ that is strengthening (see Acts 2:42, where this work, κοινωνίᾳ appears) and that permits the Body to work with great effectiveness and power. This participation or sharing is crucial to everything that happens in the local church. If sharing and fellowship is poor, the church will not be impactful. However, when one Christian is successful or blessed within the church, all in the church share in that blessing. When one is hurting or grieving, all in the church participate in that loss or trauma. We share our lives with God and then we share them with one another.

If there is any affection. This is an important word for the local church. It is about the love and strong emotions that we have in defense and protection of one another. This would be like the reflex of a father or mother when their child has been hurt or treated unfairly. The response is viseral and deep. This is the deep-felt love and concern that Christians share with one another because of our connection by faith to the same Lord and Savior. We share our lives and we care about what happens to each other. This is an intense and liberating relationship to have. It is also a wonderful experience to experience with people who care deeply for you and who can shout about it and celebrate their affection for you with joy in the presence of God.

The last in the list is sympathy. If there is any sympathy. This word also appears in Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:3; here in Philippians 2:1; Colossians 3:12; Hebrews 10:28; and Hebrews 10:28. For a similar term see Luke 6:36, and James 5:11. This is the merciful and compassionate concern for others, emphasizing the care that we provide for them, the contact that we maintain with them in their lives. This care often flows out of the ministry of God’s Spirit through us. The Spirit gives us the experience of his comfort, that we, then, pass on to others (see 2 Corinthians 1).

Paul has already prays with thanks over these Christians who were living in Philippi, both for their partnership with him in the Gospel (1:4f), and for their love (see 1:9f). Now in 2:1ff., he wants his joy to be complete (J.B. Lightfoot, ad loc. Philippians). Faith, Love, Joy.

“Have the same mind.” This could be seen an an invitation to cultish obeisance and rendering our personal thoughts and understanding as unimportant or unvalued. Having the same mind can mean something very unhealthy when it is about making people have exactly the same opinions about everything, and/ or having an uncritical acceptance of the leader’s thoughts and directives without review or right of refusal.

But the Christian seeks the same mind, by pursuing Christ together. We have a similar mind-set because we experience the same Lord Jesus Christ. We love what he loves, more and more and his desires and will become first and foremost in our lives. So we are finding new ways to serve and glorify his name that come because this essential unity that Christ has created within us, not that was imposed upon us. Our faith and obedience unite us in common values, common goals, and common motives. In such a community there is great creativity and freedom. There is love that rules over matters of taste and style and method and unity over essentials of faith and life.

[A short footnote. This is the same set of principles that were popularized by the Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, but they are to be accredited to Marco Antionio de Dominis (1560-1624), the Latin of this aspiration is: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. Translated into English: “In essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Freedom; in all things, Charity.” A good and balanced statement of unity within the Body of Christ. This statement also happens to be the motto on the seal of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which adds to their seal the phrase, “Truth in Love.”]

Having the same mind means that our thoughts are captured by the greatness and by the lordship of Jesus Christ working in us. This is not a call to uniformity. We do not walk together just to be alike. But we walk together because we really love each other. Our call to unity in Christ, focused on his glory, give our lives for his service and it directs us to go wherever he wants us to go. Paul is insistent that this unity be present and he repeats the call several times in this section (see 2:1, 5). This is laying the foundation for the humility of service and to have the mind of Christ. These go hand-in-hand. The love you have for other believers in Christ is dependent on the content of your thinking about Christ and the decree to which your mind is becoming more and more aligned with the mind of Christ with others who are experiencing the same wonderful, matchless gifts from God. “Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus” is the goal.

Marsh pink umbrella up close

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Bible Study

Grace from one to another

Both Ephesians and Philippians were written about 60 AD when Paul was imprisoned. He was in Rome. He loved the people in Philippi. They loved him and they were praying for his release from prison.

Paul was not so much concerned about his freedom as he was about his boldness.The entire first chapter comes to a focus when he says that his concern was “that I will not be ashamed” “whether I live or die” (see 1:20). His chief concern was not to be ashamed “in the day of Jesus Christ” and to finish well.

Handing off the people in Philippi to other leaders and giving them the duty, the responsibility of living lives that bring honor to God, Paul encourages them by the principle that they are not doing the work of spiritual growth; they are not doing the things that effect change and character in them. It is God who is working in them (1:5).

The principle that God is working in them does not mean that their lives will be easy or pain-free. He begins here with the story of his opportunity with the Praetorian Guard in Rome and that, apparently, ALL of them came to Christ. What an amazing thought! That the entire guard heard the Gospel and came to faith through the imprisonment of Paul. Paul shared with the Philippian church that the Gospel has been advanced in Rome, and that he has been defending it against those who were opponents of it. The promise that God is working in you both to do and to will his good pleasure, is tied to the sobering fact that we are called to do difficult things and to submit to circumstances over which we have no control, but God will use us and empower his Word and spread his Gospel through our faithfulness to him who is working in us. This theme goes through 1:20 where Paul flatly states that believing and suffering go hand in hand.

So Paul calls the people for great boldness in their lives (1:14). In 1:13-18 Paul uses a series of comparitives, The Whole, The Rest, Some, Later, Former, Everyway, Pretense, and then Truth. This is a clear way of showing that not everything goes the way we want them to go. But that God is working everywhere and we should be on the lookout for the things that God is doing, and not be surprised if there is opposition or failure, flattery or poor motivations, all the while lining up against faithful, God-filled, obedience, and fruitful people who are God’s workmanship. But in this world there are always, the rest, some, rivalry, and pretense. Be on guard.

Verse 1:17, Paul shares his chief motivation: That Christ is Proclaimed. What a wonderful statement of purpose! Paul rejoices in the proclamation of the Gospel and in it he rejoices.

The prayers of God’s people work together with the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit of God. “Through your prayers and the help of the Spirit” this “will turn out for my deliverance.” The phrase “for my deliverance” is “ἐν τῷ σώματί μου, “for my salvation.” So the deliverance could be his release from prison, that is a kind of salvation. Or it could be his death and faithful testimony about Christ, and that is also a kind of salvation, the Heavenly kind. He wants to be unafraid and full of courage (1:20) for his day of trial.

Paul’s confession

“To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul understands that the Gospel of God is a life and death, Heaven or Hell proposition. There is nothing more important. Nothing is more urgent. Nothing is more wonderful or hopeful than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He can say, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Christ is his life. If he dies he only gains glorious access to his Savior without the impediments of sin.

Are you torn between wanting to die to be with Jesus and wanting to live so you can work harder and harder doing more and more difficult tasks for God? Paul was (1:23).

Practical exhortation.

“Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27). Paul prays that they would not be frightened by anything or anyone. Paul was certainly not afraid. It is fair to say that if you are afraid of anything, there is a deficiency in your faith.

Your have been graced. It has been given to you by Jesus Christ (ὅτι ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ). The word “given” is the verbal form of the word “grace” that is so important for the Christian faith. Paul is saying that “It has been graced to you.” “It is by the working of his grace in you… that you should not only believe in him but to suffer for his sake.” (1:29). Grace becomes the power, the reason, the controlling direction within us that allows us to engage in great faith and to endure terrible suffering.

Grace that comes to you works in you. That grace leads you, protects you and delivers you. But it doesn’t keep you safe from conflict, opponents, or suffering. To think otherwise is to have never have read the New Testament. People who believe pay a dear price to be faithful. And they consider the Gospel to be worth their sacrifice and their lives, if need be.

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Bible Study

Redeeming our warfare

A study of Ephesians 6:10-23.

Introduction from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ sermons on Ephesians 6 (The Christian Warfare). “Finally” engages the attention of the reader, calling for a review of all that has been said before in the book of Ephesians. The statement in 6:10 is the summary of the entire argument.

The last section is divided into two parts, 11-12 and then verse 13 to the end, the specifics.

Chapters 1-3 lay out the fundamental themes of the Christian faith. Those chapters describe Who a Christian is, What a Christian is, and How they have become who they are.

In the second half of Chapter 3, it is, quoting Lloyd-Jones, “The glory and the exalted character of the Christian life,” (12). That you might be filled with the fulness [the British spelling] of God and experience the privileges that belong to such a life (12).

What follows is the appeal to live in a manner worthy of your calling. Continuing in Chapter 4, “walk worthy of the calling by which you have been called.”

Chapter 4:1-16 is the Church. Then practical instructions through 6:9.

The final section is broken simply down into two sections: 6:10-13 a General Exhortation. 6:14 to the end, the Particulars of how to go about doing what is set forth in 10-13.

Chapter 6:10-13. The battle is not about teaching people to live moral lives. The battle is not about raising children who are successful and responsible. The church is not to be engaged in matters touching simply on race relations or poverty or women’s rights or social justice. Rightly understood, all these matters are impacted by the Christian faith. But apart from the fulness of Christ, there is no point to engage in any programs of societal betterment, or social improvement. Families or businesses cannot be helped by moral instruction apart from the life-giving Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. To propound that the church is just an agency of societal management or a force to restrain human evil is to do great harm to the glorious vision of the Church of the Living God. We are much more than a society for the improvement of civilization. But where the Gospel is proclaimed and believed more nations have been rescued from the effects and consequences of sin than any other influence in human history.

Notice that the instructions given in Ephesians are not a curricula but a series of commands.

Chapter 6:10 — the life of the Chirstians must be lived in the strength that God provides. Our frailty is profound. We sin and slip, then we soar and reign. The heart of Ephesians (to choose one verse) is 3:18, “that we may be filled with the fulness of God.” His power is working in us (3:7). We are “alive together with Christ,” 2:5. The “power that raised Christ from the dead” is at work in us who believe. Therefore, we are to “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Our strength is not sufficient to stand. Our power is not able to engage the enemies of God. Our abilities are not able to withstand an assault on those who would scheme to destroy our assurance, fill us with fear, throw us into confusion, deny the power of God, or disconnect us from the presence and power of God.

The command to be strong in the Lord contains a calculation regarding the strength that the Lord has and a comparison of his strength with our own. We would not, in our moment of trial, want to depend on another human being who was as weak as we are. We would want someone who was capable, able, sufficient for the moment of trial to deliver and to give us aid and assistance. We do not trust God like we would trust in or admire another human being. The strength of the Lord is without limits. It is holy and wise, pure, kind, full of grace, redeeming, and great (and much, much more).

The reason we need the strength of the Lord is that our adversary, the Devil, is working schemes that are designed to hurt and to maim us, our faith, and our standing before God. The Devil works by schemes, he orchestrates events, he stacks the blows to your heart so that there is no light impact on you, rather it is that the blows become all you can do to endure them and to survive their assault.

It is when we are being attack by the schemes of the evil one that we need God’s power, if we are to survive. The easy-to-face-and-conquer temptations need no additional strength. You manage them well. But those are not in view. It is the powerful succession of events, one after another, that requires the power and presence of God in your life to live through them to the glory of God.

Not all sorrows are schemes. Not all problems come from the Devil. Not all sin is originated from the Evil One. Some of our sin comes from within us. Some of our problems come just by the nature of our fallen world and the mistakes of people, governments, politics, or leaders. People are fallible and they sometimes fail and fall and it can fall on us.

The schemes of the evil one last for enough time to accomplish their work. They are not easily dismissed. They are not settled in a day. You are tempted to give in, to give up, and to stop trying. Your obedience is severely challenged. Your heart is at risk of losing hope. There is a challenge that comes against the promises of God, the goodness of God, and the love of God. There is offered to you something you desire, something you long for, hope for, something precious in your heart, that is put at risk, but if you will deny, pull away from, or reject the promises of God, they will be yours.

The temptation is tremendous at this point, you cannot stand in your own power and strength. You are not able to reason or to have wisdom needed to see through the schemes. The schemes always contradict, contravene, or conflict with the will of God for your life. And the confrontation is deeply felt and terribly divisive within your heart and soul.

Schemes can be in the form of relationships that discourage you and that wound your heart. Such relationships may be held apart from your heart for a while, be over time the incessant power of the discouragement, the negative frame of mind, the insipient evil behind the words and promises of the relationship, bring hurt and sorrow that is deeply felt and that is difficult to overcome. It is a scheme.

Schemes work against the way your think about your life and about you see God and his place in you. Ephesians 2:2 reminds you that you know what it was like to “walk in darkness.” You know full well what it was like to live apart from God, to disobey his will, to be separated and alienated from God. But no longer. Now you are brought close, you are filled with the fulness of God. You know the power of the resurrection, and much more.

The Devil seeks to blind your eyes (2 Corinthians 4:4). Blinding the eyes means that we cannot see nor can we trust in, the truth of God, his presence, his power and redeeming love. People who are blind (who live in darkness) live their lives apart from God. They deny the God who made them and they live as though there were no God (a-theists, “no-god”).

Schemes can appeal to our pride as in 1 Chronicles 21:11, where David was stirred by Satan to “count the number of his people” when God specifically instructed him not to. David wanted to measure the strength of his army and the size of his nation. But God wanted David to trust in the God. The simple admonishion to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” is contrary to any trust in the size of an army or in the strength of the nation. But David ordered the nation to be counted and God was very displeased with him.

Lloyd-Jones summaries the schemes of the evil one in these areas: Assurance of faith (doubting one’s faith is true, or holding a false faith while thinking you are a Christian); Cults (false teaching); Self (the seat of human sin); Quenching the Spirit (wilful disobedience that offends the Spirit of God within) ; Temptation and Sin; Discouragement; Worry and Anxiety (fear is a great power in the evil one’s hand); Truth versus False Zeal (doing wrong things for the right reasons, or doing good things without the proper motive-set); and Worldiness. These topics are broad and very diverse, and you can see how varied the schemes may be. They can fall in many areas of the heart, the mind, the spirit. They can come from a misunderstanding of the Gospel (zeal). They can be fed by worry and fear. They can entice us to embrace the things of this world instead of pleasing God in how we live our lives. Be on guard!

In chapter 6:13ff Paul gives us the specifics on how we are to be strong in the Lord. The list includes these matters:

Truth, Righteousness, Gospel, Faith, Salvation, the Word of God, and Perseverance. These are matters that do not require great learning to understand. They rest at the center of the Christian faith and they can be understood as to the meaning of each term, by a young child.

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Bible Study, Uncategorized

Redeeming relationships by Christ’s power and Lordship.

Ephesians 5:22-6:9 is often presented in sermons or in church retreats as a marriage seminar, a child-rearing seminar, or advice for serving under a bad boss, or how to be a good one.

The seminar approach to this section overlooks something that, once you see it, the section is never seen just as good advice about marriage. It becomes amazing teaching about the love of Christ and his personal life in the Body of Christ, the Church.

Wouldn’t it be odd for Paul to write this incredible letter about the work of Christ, the person of Christ, the power of the resurrection, the fullness of God, and much more, and to take almost a chapter to fall back to some seminar teaching about marriage, parenting, and submission to employers (masters), that, perhaps, he’d neglected to give the church(es) while he was in the area? He wouldn’t do that. His purpose in this section (5:22ff) is to tell us more about Christ. He is challenging us, helping us, and giving us practical examples of what we ought to do, from the family and from work relationships.

I don’t think 5:22 is a new paragraph, but a continuation of the previous paragraph. In the Greek text the word “submit” is left out in 5:22, because the principle of submission is so strongly stated in 5:21. Verse 22 needs verse 21 to make sense. Let’s keep them together. No new paragraph at Verse 22.

We know that Paul thinks in complex sentences and long paragraphs, so we need to follow his thinking down the long path. Christ is said to “shine on” the church ( back in 5:14), Christ is the Sun that rises on his Church – what a beautiful picture. Futhermore, the Church is to be “filled with the Spirit (5:18), and then the rejoicing Church is led into worship with “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (5:19). Then, and this is where our section begins, they are told to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21). The fear (Greek phobõ) of Christ is the reverence, awe, and respect that Christ has in and over the Church. His presence in the Church (the Body of Christ) is intimate and a strong connection, a bond that can’t be broken, like marriage perhaps. His love for the Church is redemptive and life-giving. This section, over and over, in this way then that way, it is repeatedly, and wonderfully about the love of Christ for his Church, his love for us who love him.

The principle that is carried into the practical instruction beginning in 5:22 is that Christ defines and directs every relationship we now have. The emphasis is not on marriage alone. It is about Christ as the core of our walk (life) with God and at the core of every relationship we have.

The instruction about marriage, considered as a marriage seminar, is meaningless if the teaching about marriage is separated from the person of Christ (who he is) and work of Christ (what he did and what he is doing in his people, the Church). Paul is building a case for Christ as the Lord of the Church.

Ephesians 5:21 — the principle of submission to one another out of reverence (fear) of Christ.

5:23, The church should submit to Christ as a wife submits to the husband she loves (there is no absolute or unconditional submission to human beings taught here). The principle of the church’s submission to Christ is illustrated by the wife following and submitting to her husband. The priniciple is that a submitting wife illustrates the way the submitting Church loves Christ. The church is not an example for every wife to submit to any husband. The comparison to Christ and the church falls apart completely at that point. But in the marriage seminars, that is clearly the message. They say that a wife should submit to her husband (any husband) because that is the way the church submits to Christ. But that is very different from showing by practical example that a wife’s submission illustrates the way the Church must obey Christ. To flip it back the other way doesn’t work. 5:22 doesn’t go on to explain the many ways the wife submits to her husband, it goes on to explain how Christ is the head of the Body of Christ and is himself its Savior. The primary principle is that the church shows how the wife submits, but even in the Greek text, AGAIN, the word “submit” is left out, and the word is implied from the phrase, “as the church submits to Christ. It continues, “so also wives in everything to their husbands” omitting the word “submit.”

The point is that the main focus for a Christian is Christ. That is essential and critical information for us. This section focuses on the relationship between Christ and his Church. The illustration, the analogy taken from marriage helps us to understand what submission should be, but the force of Paul’s teaching is for the Church to be in subjection to Christ.

The marriage relationship is impacted by Christ. As we are subject to Christ as the body of Christ, we can begin to understand real submission to one another, and to one another who are married. It isn’t that out of the marraige relationship that are taught about submission. It is that being in the Church of Jesus Christ that the Lord teaches us so much about submission — Christ’s submission to the will of his Father, his obedience unto death. His Lordship over the Church and his demand that we obey him if we love him – that is how we learn to submit in other relationships because we are members of a submitting-to-Christ Body. We learn about submission because we know Christ and see his life before the Father. And we learn to submit to him as Lord. Lordship demands our submission.

The marriage seminar is over (as great a need as there is for better marriages). This is a seminar about Jesus and his people. This is what we need today. Not a bunch of suggestions for relationships, but a relationship that is incredible, with God, by Jesus Christ. That’s what we need!

5:25, Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her… ” The husband’s love for his wife is to reflect the love that Christ has for the Church. The illustration is not giving 50 ways to love your wife. It is setting Christ as the lover of the Church and the husband submits to the King of the Church and learns about love from the Lover of the Church.

The seminar on marriage would stop and tell the husband how he should love his wife. But a much bigger point is how greatly Christ loves his Church. Just reading through this section, notice who is mentioned again and again: it is the Lord, then Christ, followed by Savior, then Christ again, and again Christ, then he shifts over to “he” (Christ), and again he (Christ), back to Christ, and once more Christ. The emphasis, let’s say it again, is not on marriage. Marriage is an analogy, an illustration of the way Christ loves his people. When that is kept at the center of this passage, these verses become a song of praise to the King and Master of the Church to which we belong.

This is what Paul says about this very section in 5:32. If you are teaching the marriage seminar on this section, this verse doesn’t fit in very well, because you’ve been giving 8 ways to make your marriage better, and this passage is giving you great reasons to trust Christ and love him with all your heart. Paul gives his take on what he wrote in this section about Christ, in 5:32, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church.” The illustrations from marriage could get us off the central theme, maybe that’s why this section is almost always a marriage seminar. But it is is so much more.

Ok, I’ll admit there is much in the marriage relationship that is picked up on in the union between Christ and the Church. The Church is the Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). But the lesson for us HERE is that we are the Bride. Christ is the one who loves us. We are in submission to him. He is our Lord. Our loves and marriages find their meaning through the person and work of Christ. But Christ’s love is not helped by the wife who submits or by the husband who loves. Christ is the one these pictures are telling us about.

To let the text speak, OK, marriage is important. But it becomes much clearer how we love and care, how we submit and follow, when we have Christ at the center of our lives as part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Christ living in us, Christ filling us full of the fullness of God! The Church is the focus of the love of God. The focus, the center of his redemption. We receive the fullness of Christ to dwell in us (see Ephesians 3:19, “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (ESV), all these great principles not only make our marriages outstanding, they make our lives amazing and God-filled.

Paul was not lauding a good husband, he is extolling our glorious Savior for his amazing love for us who believe. John 17:22-23, “that they may be one,” Jesus said. He wanted our unity to be not merely about how great our kids are or how wonderful our marriages are (and those are great things to want), but that people have a significant connection with God by Jesus Christ. Something that is able to make a husband love better, and a wife to trust her wonderful husband more.

Ephesians 5:22ff is about Christ first and most. When we grasp that with our minds and hearts, and begin to live as the Body of Christ, our connection with Christ becomes stronger, and that connection changes everything.

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