Ephesians 5:28 – Loving as their own bodies.

Thus, the husbands also ought to be loving their own wives as their own bodies. He who is loving his own wife is loving himself.

What Paul wrote in the foregoing about the love of Christ for the ecclesia did not stand alone. No, the description served as an example for the men towards their wives. Christ loves the ecclesia unconditionally and devotes himself entirely to her to make her shine. Well, likewise husbands owe their love to their wives. The women are therefore not called to shine for their husbands, no, the husbands are expected to let their wives shine.

The love (=agape) of the husband for his wife, as Paul describes it, knows no conditions. It is as self-evident as the love for his own body. Here Paul says that the married woman is regarded as one flesh (body) with her husband, in order to show (32) the “big secret” behind it.

The love of the husband for his wife is therefore a logical given. Distancing himself from her is a bizarre as renouncing his own body. Christ does not do that either. In fact, he isn’t even able to. Isn’t that sturdy love?!

Delen: