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As the Church is to Christ (Biblical Marriage Basics #4)

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INTRODUCTION

We come to the next verse in Ephesians 5, turning to the Christian wife’s duty to embrace the glory of imitating the church’s obedience to Christ in her obedience in everything to her own husband. The world calls this oppression and tyranny, but we call it glory under God’s blessing.

THE TEXT

“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:24).

THE GLORY OF OBEDIENCE

While we live in a culture that has glamorized rebellion and disobedience, we really must embrace the biblical teaching that obedience, when God requires it, is our glory. Obedience to God is our crown. When Abraham obeyed God, going to the brink of sacrificing his own son, God declared great bless- ing on him (Gen. 22:18, cf. 26:4-5). Obedience to God would make Israel God’s treasured possession among all peoples (Ex. 19:5). And when God set blessing before Israel, it was the blessing of obedi- ence, and no one would be able to stand before them (Dt. 11:25-28). Conversely, disobedience to God is described as sexual infidelity: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever is a friend of the world is the enemy of God… Submit yourselves therefore to God” ( Js. 4:4, 7, cf. Jdg. 2:17). Refusal to submit to God is enmity and infidelity.

If you think about the Word of God being that which created the Heavens and the Earth, the Word that is Light and Life to all things, then obedience to that word could be nothing less than blessing, life, glory, joy, and power (cf. Ps. 119). Was it a glory for the wind and the waves to obey Jesus? Then it is a glory for us to obey Him. When Peter and the apostles said that they must obey God rather than men that was a glory (Acts 5:29), including the glory of suffering for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41). “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments” (1 Jn. 5:2). Of course our response of obedient love to God is always entirely a response of grace, God working in us what is well-pleasing in His sight (Eph. 2:10, Col. 1:10-11).

Therefore, the old marriage vows that included a wife’s promise to “obey” her husband were completely biblical, and whether or not you used the word in your ceremony, Christian marriage includes the duty: “As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening” (1 Pet. 3:6). Nor do we mind noting that Scripture says here “in everything.” A wise man will not micromanage his wife, but a godly woman will not resent her hus- band’s instruction anywhere. A wise man will not micromanage his wife, but he must not shrink from responsibility anywhere, saying “that’s none of my business.”

AS THE CHURCH TO CHRIST

By the image of the church’s submission to Christ, we certainly insist that the central postures of a godly wife are love, reverence, and obedience to her husband, but by this same image, a wife should see her role as also including a great deal of input and feedback. The church does not merely come before the Lord to receive instructions, we come before the Lord to raise our voices in prayer (spoken and sung). The Psalms are the central prayers we are invited to offer to our Lord, and we should note that many of them are full of praise, reverence, and thanksgiving, and so a Christian woman, should regularly praise, honor, and thank her husband for his hard work, his wisdom, his accomplishments, his courage, and his faithfulness. Nevertheless, we do not mind also pointing out that many Psalms include pleas for help, requests for saving, and laments for hardships. In the Hebrew it says, “Why have you been gone so long, and why don’t you answer any of my texts? I’m surrounded by people in diapers, come quickly with chocolate to help!”

There is an “asymmetry” in Christian marriage that reflects Christ and His church and must be always remembered in marriage. A Christian wife may pour her heart out to her husband in a way that a Christian husband must not do to his wife. This doesn’t mean that a Christian husband hides things from his wife, but it means that he is careful to protect his wife from his feelings and burdens. He must model Christ’s care for His bride, and not dump on her. This doesn’t mean that a Christian woman can just “dump” or “vent” on her husband, but it does mean that she may pour out her heart to him and he must not resent it. But a Christian woman should labor to pour out her heart to the Lord first before pouring her heart out to her husband.

A man may not accept responsibility for “everything” and then resent the fact that she tells him about “everything.” And remember that Christ is the model in this. The Church is subject to Christ “in ev- erything” (He is Lord of all), and therefore, we bring to Him everything. At the same time, not every moment is ideal for sorting through everything, and so a wise man must learn to thank his wife for bringing things to his attention and commit to a particular plan for addressing the concern, includ- ing giving his wife permission to remind him if necessary. A woman must not nag her husband, but a husband leads his wife into that particular temptation when he does not give clear instructions for how her concerns need to be handled.

CONCLUSIONS

Scripture says that women are, “to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Tit. 2:5). Likewise, elsewhere, it says, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none reproach to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan” (1 Tim. 5:14-15).

And the point is simply to underline how high the stakes are: the veracity and glory of the Word of God is at stake and even these duties play into our spiritual warfare with Satan. The submission and obedience of a wife to her own husband either confirm the glory of the Word of God and obedience to God or else it is blasphemed and grants credibility to the lies of Satan.

As it also says, “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:6-7). What makes women vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy? Sin and lusts. So the stakes are high, and therefore, you must be free from all your sins through the blood of Christ. If Christ is your Savior-Lord, then do not balk in the slightest if He has given you a husband-lord.

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Authority & Responsibility (Biblical Marriage Basics #3)

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INTRODUCTION

Again, we face the scorn and mockery of a world in rebellion to God, but we are not ashamed and we will not apologize for the headship of a man over his wife, since it is a glorious picture of Jesus Christ our Head and our Savior. In fact, we insist that as men repent and turn to Christ, this is one of the central places for the gospel is proclaimed and bears much fruit.

THE TEXT

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body.”

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Bible teaches that the husband is the head of the wife, and this is both an anatomical image as well as a covenantal reality. This headship is to be understood and modeled after the headship of Christ for the church, where He has taken responsibility for the church and represented the church, becoming the savior of the church.

AUTHORITY & RESPONSIBILITY

This is not the first time Paul has referred to Christ as the head of the church in this letter to the Ephesians: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). Notice two things about this: it is simply impossible to interpret Scripture’s teaching that the husband is the head of his wife as anything other than true authority. But second, notice what Christ did with that authority: He used His authority to take responsibility for us. He bled and died for the forgiveness of our sins (Eph. 1:7), in order to gather all of us together to receive an inheritance sealed to us by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:10-13), and God raised Him from the dead to be seated in Heaven as Lord of all, where He has raised us to sit with Him in glory (Eph. 1:20-2:7).

This is biblical headship. It is real authority, and it is authority that bleeds in order to bless. The authority of God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be adopted (Eph. 1:4-5), and it is that sovereign authority that accomplished everything needed for our salvation (Eph. 1:11). Human husbands cannot duplicate that salvation, but they are commanded to imitate it. This is what your headship means.

REPRESENTATION

In the Old Covenant, one of the principle pictures of headship was given in the sacrificial system: the elders laid hands on the head of the bull before it was sacrificed for the ordination of Aaron and his sons (Ex. 29:10-19), and usually whenever anyone came to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, he laid his hand on the animal before it was killed (Lev. 1:4, 3:13). The symbolism was clear: this animal represents me. Specifically, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron laid both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confessed over him all the iniquities of Israel, “putting them on the head of the goat,” and the goat would bear upon him all their iniquities into a desolate land (Lev. 16:21-22). Ordinarily, the idea of someone else bearing an iniquity would be unjust, but the hands upon the head symbolically identified the worshipper with the animal, like a head is identified with a body. So too Christ became our head by being born as a true man, just like us apart from sin. And he who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). A husband becomes one with his wife through vows before witnesses and their one flesh union, such that every husband is the head of his wife, and represents her, whether he knows it or not, whether he thinks he is or not.

This means that God sees him as the official representative of the wife, the official spokesman of the marriage covenant. He may be a negligent or abdicating head, but he is still the head. In 1 Pet. 3:7, it says that husbands must dwell with their wives in an understanding way, honoring the wife as a weaker vessel, as a coheir of the grace of life, that his “prayers be not hindered.” The warning is clear: if you do not honor your wife and listen to her concerns, God will not listen to you or your concerns. But the implication is that God is inclined to listen to that man who listens to and honors his wife.

SAVIOR OF THE BODY

It seems utterly impossible that husbands are commanded to imitate Jesus like this. How can a mere man imitate the Savior of the Body? Begin with the grateful acceptance of this responsibility. Acknowledge the fact before God with thanksgiving. And ask the Lord to teach you: “Lord, I know that I am the head of my wife. Thank you for this tremendous responsibility. Teach me what this means. Help me be a faithful head like Jesus.” If Christ our Scapegoat is any indicator, God is also inclined to listen to our prayers of confession: “Father, forgive us for our sins…” It is true that you cannot “save” your wife from her sins yourself, but as her head, you are authorized to represent her to Christ our Savior.

When the birth of Jesus the Savior was announced at the beginning of Luke’s gospel, the universal response was thanksgiving (Lk. 1:46, 1:68, 2:13-14, 2:20). Let your presence in your home and particularly for you wife evoke similar joy. The thought of you coming home from work, the thought of you being home for a day, the thought of going out with you, being with you should be gladness and relief.

CONCLUSIONS

One of the central prophesies of the Messiah was Emmanuel – God with us. A husband brings security, rest, relief, and joy to his wife by merely being present, being present with joy, peace, kindness, grace. But you cannot give this, unless you have this. This means that Christ must be present with you, and you must be casting your cares upon Him. A godly husband is not a man who has no difficulties or trials; a godly husband is a man who is casting them upon the Lord as fast they arise, so that he is free to serve his wife.

The name “Jesus” means savior, and it is the same name as Joshua. Think of the work of Joshua and Jesus as works of conquest. You are called to study and know your wife well. Peter says that you must dwell with your wife in an understanding way, or according to knowledge. Joshua sent spies into the land; Jesus sent the apostles. Before you attempt to lead your wife, you must know your wife. Before you build, you study the land, you make a plan. Before you go to war, you number your troops, you study the enemy. In this case, you have an assignment from the Lord to lead your wife to Heaven, to do everything you can drive the darkness of sin out of her life and present her spotless.

Men, you cannot imitate the Savior, unless you know the Savior. So do you know Jesus?

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Equality & Hierarchy (Biblical Marriage Basics #2) [King’s Cross]

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INTRODUCTION

The submission of a woman to her own husband in the Lord is considered more and more foreign in our modern world, but it is the clear teaching of Scripture and will be a mark of Christian civilization to the end of the world.

THE TEXT

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While there is a general submission, a general deference and honor in the fear of God between all Christians, including husbands and wives, there is a particular submission required of wives to their own husbands. This submission of a wife is to her own husband only and not to men in general. Finally, this instruction is given with Christ over it all, limiting it and blessing it.

EQUALITY & HIERARCHY

One of the basic truths that biblically thinking Christians must get their heads and hearts around is the fact that God created the world with both equality and hierarchy at work. These are not contradictions. In fact, this dual reality in the world reflects an analogous dual reality in the Triune God. The Bible clearly teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally God and equal in glory and power and majesty; this is what theologians call the ontological Trinity. And at the same time, the persons of the Trinity have different roles: The Father begets, and the Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This difference or hierarchy in God is reflected in what theologians call the economic Trinity, the workings of the persons of the Trinity in history: the Father speaks and sends, the Son is spoken and is sent, and the Spirit hovers, inspires, fills, and enlivens.

In an analogous way, human society reflects both equality and hierarchy. Male and female share the image of God equally, and there is natural hierarchy in different ways: Men are required to use their strength to sacrificially lead, provide, and protect both generally and specifically. And women are to use their strength and wisdom to cultivate life and beauty in return. When men stayed aboard the Titanic, giving women seats on the lifeboats, equality and hierarchy were at work. All bore the image of God equally, and men exercised their glory in laying their lives down, and women exercised their glory by allowing themselves to be protected. The same is true in our manners and customs of standing when a woman walks into a room, holding doors, opening doors, speaking with deference and honor, etc. Therefore, when the Bible commands wives to submit to their own husbands, this is not demeaning in the slightest. An equal is submitting to an equal with joy makes their respective glories shine.

HER OWN HUSBAND

We do not believe in arranged marriages, since the Biblical pattern from earliest times included asking the woman herself if she agreed to the marriage (Gen. 24:58). And so we teach that a woman is free to accept or reject a man’s offer, with no questions asked, since the stakes really are high. Do you want to submit to this man for the rest of your life? The feminists howl and shriek that any woman would agree to this, since they much prefer women submitting to corporate bosses, judges, and politicians. But the Bible teaches that if a woman freely chooses to submit to one man, she certainly may, and she is thereby free of the claims of all others. And this really should be an incredibly freeing thing. A woman may serve her family in many different ways inside the home or outside the home, but she fundamentally answers to one man, not many. In a world of many possible interests, hobbies, vocations, or preferences, a woman’s submission to her own husband means that she is set free to be oriented to that one man. His mission, his vocation, his interests and preferences are to be her big picture plan. This does not at all obliterate her individual interests, gifts, or preferences, but God requires her to submit those to his.

IN THE LORD JESUS

Wherever Scripture requires obedience and submission, it always qualifies the command with “in the Lord” (Eph. 6:1), “as to Christ” (Eph. 6:5), or “as to the Lord” (Col. 3:23), or similar language. This is because Jesus is the only absolute and ultimate Lord. He is Lord of all. And this means that every earthly, human authority (or lord) has a Lord. This is why we call Jesus the Lord of lords (and King of kings) or Master of masters. All true earthly authority is therefore delegated and limited by the Lord Jesus. Civil magistrates have true authority that is delegated to them by the Lord Jesus for a particular task. Pastors and elders must give an account for their care of those entrusted to them (Heb. 13:7, 17). Parents have true authority over their children, but neither is it absolute or exhaustive (Eph. 6:1). And husbands have authority from Jesus to lead and love their wives well (Eph. 5:22ff).

This means that a woman should see Jesus standing behind her husband (and all inferiors can think similarly of their superiors). The specific assignment given by Jesus to husbands is to provide for the spiritual and physical well-being of their wives (Eph. 5:25-29). Under that general command, a wife must gladly submit to that leadership which is directly obedient to Jesus. When a husband leads his wife to go to church, read the Bible, practice confession of sin and forgiveness, tithe, hospitality, etc., a woman must obey. He is merely following orders. You submit to Him in the Lord, because He is submitting to his Lord in that leadership. A wife must also submit to her husband in those areas of Christian freedom and wisdom. There is freedom in where you will live, what job you will take, where/when you will vacation, style of house or car, or favorite foods or colors. A Christian woman should feel free to give her respectful input and feedback and counsel, but she should also be fully prepared to submit gladly to his decisions there. And let us underline gladly, since it is in the Lord. If the Lord has given you this man, and he is not leading you away from Christ, then you must trust the Lord. And of course, if your husband begins attempting to lead you away from Christ or into sexual or financial ruin, biblical submission cheerfully and respectfully confronts, subverts, and refuses, just like the Egyptian midwives with Pharaoh, like Rahab and the spies, and Abigail with Nabal.

CONCLUSION

It is a glory when a Christian woman submits to her own husband in the Lord. It is a glory to the woman and a glory to her husband, but it is also a glory to Christ. As we see elsewhere, it pictures the submission of Christ, and is therefore altogether lovely (1 Pet. 2:21, 3:1-6).

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The Fear of the Lord (Biblical Marriage Basics #1) [King’s Cross]

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INTRODUCTION

As we begin a series on biblical marriage basics, we begin with two primary characteristics that are often missing from marriages: gratitude and the fear of the Lord. These are characteristics that may seem opposed to one another, but if we understand the gospel rightly, they actually go quite well together.

Consider this series review for those of you who are married, and preparation for those of you preparing for marriage. You will not make much progress in Christian marriage unless you are deeply grateful to God and you fear Him.

THE TEXT

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph. 5:20-21).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As Paul exhorts the Ephesians to love one another, He identifies the heart of that love as deep and constant gratitude to God for all things, in the name of Jesus (Eph. 5:20). We give thanks to God for all things in the name of Jesus because He is the Lord Christ, the Messiah King of all things. This is also why we submit to one another in the fear of God: we are all subjects of the King (Eph. 5:21).

SOVEREIGN GRACE & PEACE

This kind of gratitude only makes sense in a world that God rules exhaustively (Eph. 1:11). Those who do not want God to be sovereign over all things are ultimately saying that there are certain things you don’t have to give thanks to God for since He didn’t do them. And this is because the sinful heart of man is always looking for some angle to take credit for (Eph. 2:9). But if we are required to give thanks to God always and for everything, then God is ultimately responsible for all things.

Does this mean giving thanks for evil? We must not condone or praise evil at all, but if even evil is under God’s sovereign rule (and it is), then yes, we must give thanks for how God even bends and governs evil to conform to His plan. Scripture says that Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel conspired against the Lord and His Christ “to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28). Do we thank God for the Cross – the site of the most wicked act in the history of the world? Then we can and we must respond like Job to horrific hardship: the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). And if this is the case in general, then it most certainly is the case specifically when it comes to your family, your marriage, your spouse. Give thanks for all of it, always. Make lists of all the good things and meditate on those things (Phil. 4:8). Gratitude is the plow that breaks up the hard soil of hard hearts. Gratitude is what allows you to see the big picture clearly. This is how God’s peace rules and guards our hearts and minds (Phil. 4:7-9).

SUBMITTING IN THE FEAR OF GOD

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1). It was the fear of God that drove Abraham to obediently take his son up the mountain to sacrifice him (Gen. 22:12). When Jacob made covenant with Laban, he swore by God, whom he called the “Fear of Isaac,” his father (Gen. 31:53). The midwives feared God and did not obey the Pharaoh’s wicked decree to expose the Hebrew baby boys (Ex. 1:21). Joshua charged Israel to fear God and serve Him in sincerity and truth and put away their idols (Josh. 24:14).

You cannot have a biblically healthy marriage apart from the fear of the Lord. You cannot have wisdom without the fear of the Lord. You will not be able to be obedient, keep your covenant vows, stand up to evil, or put away your idols if you do not fear the Lord.

The fear of the Lord teaches you to honor others rightly (1 Pet. 2:17). Husbands and wives are first of all fellow image-bearers (Gen. 1:28) and secondly, they are co-heirs of the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7). In Christ, husband and wife are brother and sister, and there must be a deep reverence for one another in the fear of the Lord (Eph. 5:21). When God calls two Christians together, He is calling them to follow Him together. When God calls two Christians together, He is saying that they will be most equipped to serve Him together. In the first instance, your assignment is to submit to Christ, fear the Lord, and therefore, in Christ, there certainly is a mutual submission as you follow Christ together.

APPLICATIONS

There is a kind of egalitarianism that camps out on this verse about mutual submission wrongly, but there is also a kind of pigheaded patriarchalism that completely ignores it. We want to be Biblical Christians, and this means that we want to embrace this verse and obey it and all of the ones the follow it. We believe in mutual submission in the fear of God and in the headship of husbands and the submission of wives in the Lord. Deal with it.

This mutual deference and kindness flows directly out of the gospel of grace. Christ is Lord of all because He was crucified for our sins and rose from the dead. The resolution of Paul that He is persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God and that in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us – that all things must work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose – that is only possible if Christ is Lord of all things, if all things serve Him (Rom. 8). But if all things serve Him, then we must give thanks for all things, all the time, and tremble before His majesty.

And some of that majesty is particularly revealed in your spouse, in your marriage. So give thanks there; tremble before the Lord there.

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