Ideal Pattern for Marriage

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:31-33, NIV) [Read Ephesians 5:22-33].

Family relationships are extremely important in any culture and social order. Paul gave the pattern for ideal marriage in Ephesians 5:22-33. He began by stating that wives are to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord.” The relationship is extremely sacred, likened to that of Christ to the church. Christ is the head of the church, loving the church, His bride, so much that He gave His very life for it.

The husband is to love his wife just as Christ loved the church. And the wife is to submit to her husband, just as the church submits to its Head, Jesus Christ.

This ideal pattern for marriage, Paul wrote, is a “profound mystery” [speaking of Christ and the church]. Our society does not consider marriage on the level of sacred relationships, as Christ to His church. Today in our society, marriages are in grave trouble. Commitment so often is not considered a tie that binds for life. When relationships go sour, the couple goes their separate ways. Divorce is common, painful, ugly and hurtful to many—not only the couple but to the children. Divorce is a failed relationship.

On the other hand, when God’s pattern is followed for marriage, the ideals for personal relationships in the most sacred social bonds are realized. We hear sometimes of “a marriage made in heaven.” This is the bond when both husband and wife recognize the Lordship of Christ and their lifelong love and commitment to each other—through thick and through thin, through sickness and through health, through joy and through sorrow. It is solid as a rock—solid as Christ’s love for the Church, and the true church’s love for the Lord. In the ideal marriage relationship, Christ has the preeminence and submission one to the other is a joy.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, June 23, 2010