Ephesians 5:33 – Awesome Love

Moreover, you also individually, each be loving his own wife thus, as himself, yet that the wife may be fearing the husband.

Just now Paul had come to the climax of the meaning of “one flesh” in Genesis 2:24. He had also pointed to Christ and the ecclesia. Together they form one body. So if Christ loves the ecclesia, then he loves himself. Christ himself is the exalted example for married men.

Husbands would love their wives as themselves. Perhaps the husband has great difficulty with his wife, with her attitude of behavior. Or maybe with her illness or disability. It is possible that little is left of feeling in love. But Paul is not talking about such feelings. He is talking about loving not about liking. Loving (Gr. Agapé) is not a feeling but an act in which unconditional love is proven. It is precisely when romance is lacking that this (agape) love can prove itself.

If the husband loves his wife in such a manner, through all kinds of situations, unrelentingly, then that is awe-inspiring. It doesn’t read (like some translations show) that the woman should fear her husband (= to have awe). No the husband would love his wife so that she would respect him.

Delen: