Series: Identity – The Book of Ephesians
Sermon: Wise Living 3
Bible Passage: Ephesians 5:25-33
I. “Husbands, love your wives (25a)
a. Husbands are called upon “to love” and not to rule! —completely different from Greco-Roman world
b. The word “to love” must not be understood with a dictionary
c. “To love” is illustrated in verse 25b
II. “even as” or “just as” is a comparison of manners (verse 25b), i.e., how must husbands love their wives?
a. An example to imitate
b. A blueprint to model after
III. The manner of Christ’s love is described at length from verses 25b-27
a. “Christ loved the church” (verse 25b)
b. This “love” involves an act of will
c. The act of will here is “that handed Himself up for her”—opposite of demand and imposition
i. With the expression “handed himself over,” Paul points to Jesus’ crucifixion and death on the cross—”self-giving” instead of demanding
ii. It’s not the merit of the church that prompted Christ to do it—”while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (cf. Rom 5:8)
1. The constituent members of the church were not in any way attractive for Christ to give Himself up!
2. They were dead in trespass and sin (cf. Eph 2:1)
3. They lived under the influence of the authority of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience (cf. Eph 2:2)
4. They lived in the desires of their flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and they were children of wrath by nature (cf. Eph 2:3)
5. Christ’s giving Himself was vicarious, self-giving
6. It transformed the church—transformative love
7. “Handed himself up”—the voluntary action that changed her identity
d. Husbands of Greco-Roman culture did not practice this love—the noun form of agape is not found in any Greek literature!
e. In a general sense, Greeks and Romans would consider agape as weakness!
IV. Three verbs point to the purpose of “handing Himself up for the church”
a. “in order that He might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water by water” (verse 26)
i. “To sanctify” means “to make a person holy,” “to set a person aside for a special relationship or task,” …
ii. The word “to sanctify” gives birth to the word “sanctification”
iii. “Sanctification” is a process by which a believer goes through transformation into the holiness of Christ Jesus
iv. i.e., transformation in character and conduct that is worthy of the Gospel
v. This passage appears to tell that the sanctification is primarily the work of Christ—that He might sanctify her
vi. God elected the believers in Jesus to be “holy and blameless before him” (cf. 1:4)
vii. This was the purpose of God when He elected Israel (cf. Deut 7:7-6)
viii. Christ’s handing Himself up is for the purpose of the sanctification of the church
b. The means by which this is accomplished is by “cleansing her with the washing of water by the word”
i. “cleansing” points to the cleansing of sin and
ii. “washing” points to the sanctification by the word of the Gospel
c. “that he might present to himself a glorious church not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (verse 27a)
i. A future for the church and Christ is in sight!
ii. While “to sanctify” is present, “to present Himself” is future!
iii. The benchmark between the present and the future is to bring her to become “glorious”
1. That she will possess an inherent quality that is not ordinary, inherent from her birth, glorious, splendid
2. ‘Glory’ (doxa) is the radiance of God, the shining forth and manifestation of his otherwise hidden being (Stott)
3. So too the church’s true nature will become apparent (Stott)
4. On earth she is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted (Stott)
5. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than “the bride of Christ”
iv. The grooming and beautification of the bride is the work of the Bridegroom through the work of His self-giving love and cleansing work of the Word
d. “that she might be holy and blameless” (verse 27b)
V. The standard of husbands’ love is that of Christ’s love for Christ
a. Christ is committed to the total wellbeing of the church, His bride
b. Wellbeing, growth, and beauty of wife is in the self-giving love and growth inducing words of the husband
VI. Thus also husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies (verse 28a-29)
a. With self-giving love and transformative involvement
b. They need to consider their wives as their bodies
c. The one who loves his own wife loves himself (verse 28b)—because he benefits from her development/beautification
VII. Verse 30 is the climatic saying: “we are members of his body”
VIII. Verses 31-33: Paul mentions about a mystery
a. In Latin, the word “mystery” is translated as “sacramentum”
i. It was hitherto unknown, but now is revealed
ii. One illustrates the other!
b. The mystery of man’s leaving his parents and cleaving to his wife has been a mystery hitherto but is revealed now
c. It is to demonstrate Christ’s love for church, His bride
IX. Principles
1. Wives’ submission/yielding to their husbands happens within the confines of husbands’ unconditional, self-sacrificing love
2. The husband’s self-giving love, nurturing relationship enables his wife to become what God intends her to be
3. So, wives “submission” and “respect” (verse 22, 33) enables her husband to be more self-giving and nurturing, and develops into a servant leader
4. Christ loved the Church not because it was perfectly lovable, but in order to make it such (Westcott)
5. Christ had not got a perfect bride at the beginning but He develops her to the glorious one; to have a glorious bride is His desire
6. In the same way, instead of expecting a glorious wife at the beginning of their relationship, they need to work on a glorious bride for themselves
7. The church that we are part of is Christ’s valuable possession and He has His ultimate claim over it! caution!
8. Christ is working on His bride, the church; leaving and cleaving will happen in the future
Take Away:
Husbands, in your relationship with your wife, imitate Christ’s self-giving love towards the church