Exegetical Meditations (30)

“In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.” (Ephesians 5:28-30, NIV)

We often hear that husbands ought to love their wives as Christ loved the church. But, that’s really only half the statement Paul made.

He begins that particular section of Ephesians 5 by telling his readers how Christ loved the church. Jesus gave himself up for her and, in so doing, made her holy by cleansing her with water through the word. He did this and then presented her to himself as a radiant church, free of stains, wrinkles, or any other blemish. Because of Christ’s work, she—the church—was and is now holy and blameless. That’s what Jesus did and Paul says that husbands ought to do the same thing.

Love your wives just as Christ loved the church.

Husbands are called to lay their lives down for their wives and our example is Jesus. A question remains, however. A question that’s at the center of what I’m thinking through with this meditation.

Why did Jesus do that for the church?

Thankfully, Paul tells us.

He begins by telling us that husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. Husbands, when you look at your wife you should not be seeing her as another person (in some sense), but as so connected with you that her body is your body. In other words you two are one. This leads to Paul’s next statement that he who loves his wife loves himself. Which makes perfect logical sense. Since you and your wife are connected as if you are one, to love your wife is to love yourself. And…to dishonor and not love your wife is to do the same to yourself.

Paul then adds another layer of significance to that statement by making the point that no one ever hated their own body. The natural inclination in people is to protect and value themselves as worthy of protecting—that is, unless there’s something else going on. We feed our bodies and care for our bodies. It would have been inconceivable to Paul that a husband wouldn’t treat his wife as he would treat himself. For a husband to treat his wife in a manner unworthy of the calling is to misunderstand the union between them—the union of marriage.

Lastly, and this is where it comes together for us, and Jesus, and the church, Paul tells us why Christ laid himself down for the church.

In brief, it’s because we are members of his body.

The church is the body of Christ. Those who trust in Jesus are members of the church. And Jesus feeds and cares of his body, so he will certainly do the same for his church because the church is his body! We—you and I—are members of his body (the church) and the church is his bride. Jesus cares for his bride. He cares for his bride because his bride is a part of him—it is connected to him—it is his body.

Therefore, husbands, love your wives as your own bodies because they are.

Exegetical Meditations (9)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV)

Here Paul writes that God’s mercy comes from “the great love with which he loved us” (v. 4). Not only that, but God loved us “when we were dead in our trespasses” (v. 5a). That’s what mercy is. God sees the people he created—people who elsewhere are described as rebellious (Ps. 139:21) and haters of God (John 3:20)—and he loves them. God’s mercy is on display as he withholds judgment upon those for whom judgment should fall. While we were dead in our trespasses (not after we had done anything to merit his favor) “he made us alive together with Christ” (v. 5b). This move by God is grace. As it says, “by grace you have been saved” (v. 5c). It’s grace because God has given a gift to his dead people. It was mercy when judgment doesn’t fall on those whom God is saving and it’s grace when God gives them life as he unites them with Christ.

God doesn’t stop there.

He has not only withheld judgment upon us and made us alive but he has “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (v. 6). Grace again as God has saved his people and lifted them to where we were meant to be—with God in his kingdom. God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden (a kingdom of God) so that they could be with God and God could be with them. As a result of disobedience this did not last but God has done a work to bring us back. The question then to ask is: Why?

Paul gives us the answer with his next statement.

“So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). Was all this work of God in rescuing a dead people so that the people could then beat their chests and feel good about how important they are? By no means! God has done this rescuing work so that his grace in kindness (the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness) would be made known in the one through whom we have been saved—Jesus Christ. It is no small thing for God to get the glory for what he has done. It is the thing.

To fully experience the mercy, grace, love, and kindness of God is to know how his mercy, grace, love, and kindness has been made manifest. And here, in Ephesians 2:4-7, Paul tells us that God’s act of saving his dead people—people who were not capable of doing anything to incline themselves to God’s salvation—was not so that those who have been saved might reflect on their worth to God (that’s found elsewhere) but it was so that God’s kindness would be put on display.

These are not the actions of an egomaniac; these are the actions of a God who, through the exaltation of what makes him great, rescues his people who want nothing to do with him. 

This God is overflowing with mercy, grace, love, and kindness.