Love And Respect

Continuing on with Mark's theme, let's look at Eph. 5:22-33

22. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26. so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27. that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
29. for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
30. because we are members of His body.
31. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.
32. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
33. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

First let's note the command to husbands. We are to love our wives by imitating Christ's love for the Church.

So here is exercise 1

Name how Christ has loved the Church.

For example, we could say that Christ loved the Church sacrifically. That is, He died for the church. For the husband to love his wife in like manner would be to show her a sacrificial love. A number one threat to that, I would think, would be something as gross as the viewing of internet porn. The vow of marriage is that you are to forsake all others, thus giving your wife the affections of your heart. The lust born from porn robs that and the heart becomes devided by the reality of a wife and the fantasies made by internet viewing. Another threat to loving your wife sacrificially would be demanding to have your way all the time.

Another example would be showing tenderness.

But that is the first exercise: Name has Christ has loved the Church and correlate that with how the husband is to love the wife.

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Alright. For the wives. How is a wife to love, or show love, to her husband? The text says two things, but I would think that the fist is really the fruit of the second. The first is submissivily. Now as I stated, I would say that is the fruit of the second thing stated. Why? Because one can be submissive to another and not love them. So what is the second thing that is stated? Vs. 33 commands "...the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."

2dn. Exercise:

Name how the wife should show respect for her husband.

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Hopefully there will be some fruitful discussion, as I think men and women differ to a degree in how each as a group experiences love, or how they would like to be loved. That is not to say that wives are to be untender to husbands or that husbands should disrespect their wife. What I am saying is that it seems that because there are differences between the sexes, the way love is experienced is different. Example: the husband will not sense a true love relationship if he is primarily disrespected by the wife. And it goes the other way: the wife will not sense a true love relationship without the tenderness and sacrificial giving of the husband. Both are needed.