St. Paul's Instructions to Christian Spouses in Eph. 5: 21 ff. (original) (raw)
Pharos Journal of Theology
The Bible contains important teachings about the mysterious relationship between Christ and the Church, as explained in Ephesians 5:22-33. This article highlights the deep relationship between Christ and the Church and has important implications for Christian families in the Church, where teaching about the Christian family especially from Ephesians 5:22–33 is only given or preached at the time of the marriage blessing, and even that is not explained well. So it can be said that the description of Ephesians 5: 22-33 is just a routine without meaning. In Ephesians 5:22-33 the apostle Paul uses the analogy of marriage to explain the relationship between Christ and His church. He compared the relationship between a husband and wife to the relationship that exists between Christ and the church. Just as a husband is the head of his wife, Christ is the head of the church. It emphasizes the surrender of the church to the authority of Christ and the love and sacrifice Christ gave to His chu...
22 Wives [subject] yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 But as the church subjects itself to Christ, in the same way wives should also submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself on her behalf, 26 in order to sanctify her having cleansed her with the washing of the water by the gospel, 27 so that he may render the church to himself as glorious-not possessing a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, in order that she might be holy and blameless. 28 In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one has ever hated his own body but he nourishes and cherishes of it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 for we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great, but I speak with reference to Christ and the church. 33 In any case, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
THE HUSBAND IS NOT PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING TO HIS WIFE: AN EXEGETICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CASE
2025
This paper argues that the teaching that the husband is prophet, priest, and king to his wife is unbiblical and dangerous because it usurps prerogatives that Christ alone fulfills and weakens the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. This paper demonstrates that Ephesians 5:22-33 does not teach that husbands fulfill every role for their wives that Christ fulfills for the church and argues that believers should look to the explicit teaching of scripture to formulate their understanding of biblical husband-and-wife roles.
“One flesh”: The Spousal Symbology in Ecclesiology of the Epistle to the Ephesians
AUC THEOLOGICA, 2020
tHe spousal symboloGy in ecclesioloGy oF tHe epistle to tHe epHesians (5,21-33) 1 J a r o s l av b r o Ž the letter to the ephesians is considered to be the most mature fruit of the apostle's reflexion on the mystery of the church. in this regard the passage eph 5,21-33 draws attention of theologians especially for its 1 interconnection of ecclesiological and anthropological 1 the essential part of this article was presented at the XXii international biblical conference "We live in a body" in szeged (Hungary), 9th-11th september 2010, and its Hungarian version will be published in the conference proceedings. basic bibliography: (1) commentaries: aletti, Jean noël. saint paul épître aux Éphésiens. etb 42, paris: Gabalda, 2001; bartH, markus. ephesians: translation and commentary on chapters 4-6. ab 34a, new york: doubleday, 1974. Gnilka, Joachim. der epheserbrief. Hthk 10/2, Freiburg: Herder, 1971; lincoln, andrew t. ephesians. Wbc 42, dallas, texas: Word books, 1990; macdonald, margaret y. colossians and ephesians. sacra pagina 17, collegeville, minnesota: the liturgical press, 2000; o'brien, peter t. the letter to the ephesians. Grand rapids -cambridge: William b. eerdmans publishing company, 1999; penna, romano. lettera agli efesini. introduzione, versione, commento, socr 10, bologna: edb, 1988; scHlier, Heinrich. der brief an die epheser. düsseldorf: patmos-verlag, 1957; scHnackenburG, rudolf. der brief an die epheser. ekk 10, zürich -neukirchen: benzinger verlag -neukirchener verlag, 1982. (2) monographies and articles: daWes, Gregory W. the body in Question: metaphor and meaning in the interpretation of ephesians 5:21-33. leiden: brill, 1998; Gielen, marlis. tradition und theologie neutestamentlicher Haustafelethik. bonner biblische beiträge 75, Frankfurt am main: verlag anton Hain, 1990; Heil, John paul. ephesians. empowerment to Walk in love for the unity of all in christ. studies in biblical literature 13, atlanta: society of biblical literature, 2007; macdonald, margaret y. marriage, nt, in: the new interpreters dictionary of the bible. vol. 3, nashville: abingdon press, 2008, 812-818; martin, Francis. the new Feminism: biblical Foundations and some lines of development. in martin, Francis (ed.), sacred scripture: the disclosure of the Word. naples, Fl: sapientia press of ave maria university, 2006, 193-225 (a previous version originally appeared in scHuHmacHer, michele m. (ed.). Women in christ: toward a new Feminism, Grand rapids, mi: eerdmans publishing co., 2003, 141-168; miletic, stephen Francis. one Flesh': eph 5.22-24; 5.31. marriage and the new creation, analecta biblica 115, rome: biblical institute press, 1988; osi-auc tHeoloGica 2011 -roč. 1, č. 2 pag. 7-16
The Place of Union with Christ in the Theology and Practice of Marriage
2019
THE PLACE OF UNION WITH CHRIST IN THE THEOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF MARRIAGE Darryl John Burling, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2019 Chair: Dr. Jeremy P. Pierre This dissertation argues that the union between Christ and the church is given as a model of the participation between a husband and wife within a marriage because the nature of the marriage relationship and the relationship between Christ and the church is essentially the same, and that this participatory model has implications for how we understand marriage and think about marriage counseling. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis of this dissertation and traces some historical developments related to its theme. Chapter 2 argues that marriage should not be considered a covenant, but a union inaugurated by a covenant. This chapter shows that definitions of covenants are increasingly loose and do not take into account the purpose of covenants and the distinctiveness of the pre-fall situation in Genesis 2. In chapter ...
An Exegesis of Ephesians 5:18-28: Christian Fellowship and Relationship
2022
Ephesians 5 presents a code of beliefs vital to the letter's recipients and Christendom. Chapter 5 begins as a continuation of the previous chapter. Paul had been reminding the recipients of their former walk, but now because they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, Paul persuades those in Christ to walk as imitators of God. The first section in chapter 5 provides an illustration of imitating God. Paul warns in 5:15, indicating the significance of the Christian walk, and introduces his subsequent exhortations. 5:18-28 divides into three sections for detailed analysis. Section (1) Influenced by the Holy Spirit 5:18-19 is the first section that displays the impact and results of being under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In 5:18, Paul gives a command, and 5:19 is the result of adhering to that command. The following section (2) Submitting One to Another 5:20-24 focal point is the Christian relationship and their submissiveness. The following division (3) Love Like Christ 5:25-28 is an appeal to replicate Christ's love for the church. 5:25-28 instructs the male figure to love their wives and, as an example, references Christ's love for the church. Ephesians 5:18-28 provides instructions for Christian worship and life and how they should live in fellowship and relationships. To achieve harmony in relationships, believers must be willing to embrace the influence of the Holy Spirit, submit to each other, and demonstrate Christ's love.
2015
The paper explores the dynamic of New Testament households and their codes of conduct. It focuses on the reconfigured husband/wife relationship in the household code of Ephesians 5:21–6:9 in view of the code’s ambivalent relation to the rest of the letter as well as its complex history of interpretation. Since Christianity’s foundational documents originated from (and are often read) within patriarchal societies, influenced by the hierarchical ethos of empire, a major challenge is whether and how a text such as the Ephesians code provides a lens through which it may be reimagined (in Africa) today—even against its patriarchal grain and history of interpretation. In view of feminist and postcolonial criticism, it is argued that the code serves as an ongoing invitation to resist any form of exploitative power in contemporary as well as ancient empire. 1 Household as Primary Context for Moral Formation Through the ages, households served as a primary space for the affirmation and devel...