09.03.2021
IBC Admin
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor."
Eph 5:25–27
In Ephesians 5:26, after husbands are invited to "love their wives as Christ loved the church," we read that just as Christ sanctifies and sets apart His church, husbands now are invited through their relationship with their wives to also have a sanctifying work in their wive's lives.
There are two implications here. First, Christ sanctifies His church through His loving sacrifice on the cross so that sinful man may be forgiven, reconciled to God and now made holy through His sanctifying blood. In a similar way, husbands are invited to love their wives sacrificially, to given themselves up for their wives. When a husband does that in a Christ like manner, his love will also have a "sanctifying" effect in their wife's life. A woman whose husband is living like this will be drawn deeper into their relationship with God.
A second implication is the ongoing work of Christ through His Spirit in the believer’s life, where the patterns of sin and worldliness are broken and the believer grows in maturity. Again in a similar way, as a husband lives committed to Christ, that godly life will have a sanctifying effect on their wife. Instead of sin, conflict, bitterness and unfaithfulness, the marriage will take on the characteristics of love, unity, forgiveness and commitment.
What a high calling for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. May our families be characterized by such love. When we do that, in a similar way Christ and His church will be presented with "splendor" (vs. 27) so too will that marriage be a glorious thing to God!