IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Love and Respect

Date: Dec. 1, 2020

Passage

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives and Husbands

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.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: Ephesians 5:33

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

1. Wives, submit to your husbands (22-24)

The general principle for the human relationship is to 'submit to one another out of reverence for Christ' (21). For the marital relationship, the wife is to submit to her husband as the head of the family. Paul compares this relationship to Christ's headship of the church. As the relationship between Christ and the church is sustained by love and submission, so is the relationship between a husband and wife.

2. Husbands, love your wives (25-33)

As Christ loved the church, the husband should love his wife. Christ loved us when we were still sinners. He gave himself up for us to be holy and blameless. His love is unconditional and sacrificial. So Paul says, '…husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.' We take good care of our bodies with food, clothes, medicine, rest etc. Likewise, the husband should love and take care of his wife. The husband and wife are one flesh through God-ordained marriage, and it is 'a profound mystery.' To keep this profound mystery Christ-like, the husband must love his wife and the wife should respect her husband.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your submission to God and your love for us. Help us imitate your example.

One Word: Do as Christ has done

Daily Bread

God Stills the Conflict

Psalm 76:1-12

Key Verse: 76:6

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.

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Intro Daily