Ephesians 5:21-33 Jesus Followers Walk As Imitators Of Him In Marriage

June 16, 2024
Series: Ephesians
Teacher: Paul Mermilliod

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Ephesians 5:21-33
…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.[25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

BIG TRUTH:
JESUS FOLLOWERS WALK AS IMITATORS OF HIM IN MARRIAGE

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:31-33

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Big Idea:
Walking in love reframes our relationships. (5:22-6:9)

Big Idea:
Submission is the context for walking in love within our relationships. (5:21-22; 6:1, 5)

• Submission is repulsive to our old nature, which longs for independence and control. (Rom 1:21; Jer 2:13)
• Submission is a healthy gift from God that flows out of the identity and unity that we have in Jesus. (Eph 4:1-6)
• Submission to one another is the overflow of our submission to Jesus. (Eph 5:21, Gal 2:20)

Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Jeremiah 2:13
for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Big Idea:
Wives walk in love by submitting to their husbands. (5:22)

Colossians 3:18
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Titus 2:4-5
and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Big Idea:
Wives reflect the relationship between Jesus and His church through their submission to their husbands. (5:23-24)

1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

What Does Godly Submission Look Like?

• Godly submission is “to the Lord.” (5:22)
• Godly submission is for “the building up” of your husband. (4:12-13)
• Godly submission is “in everything.” (5:24)
• Godly submission is expressed through “respect.” (5:33)

1 Peter 3:1-5
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, [2] when they see your respectful and pure conduct. [3] Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—[4] but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. [5] For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

Ephesians 5:33
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

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