15d • General discussion
Marriage a Testimony of The Gospel
In Ephesians 5:22–33, the apostle Paul presents marriage not primarily as a set of rules, but as a living testimony of the gospel.
Too often, our attention narrows quickly to verses 22 and 23 with words about submission and headship. When that happens, we can end up reading the passage through a purely human lens, reducing it to power or pecking order.
But when we slow down and read the whole passage to its end, a much richer picture emerges.
Here, Paul’s primary concern is not about submission, control, or authority, but Christlikeness.
In the verses that follow, Paul makes it clear that Christ Himself is the model for husbands, and the church is the model for wives. This shifts the entire conversation. Marriage becomes a lived proclamation of the gospel, where husband and wife, both individually and together, submit to God.
Here, submission and authority are not limited to the husband and wife relationship, but mutual alignment under Jesus, for the purpose of promoting the gospel.
So when we return to verses 22 and 23—“Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” we begin to see what Paul is really showing us. That marriage reveals something deeper about us. It reveals how we understand Christ. How we lead, how we submit, how we love, and how we give ourselves to one another all flow out of how we relate to and understand Him.
When we understand that, we also see how God is working through our spouse to draw us closer to Him, and that conflict is not as much about who is right or wrong but about us humbling ourselves to God working through the conflict.
In this way, marriage becomes more than a private relationship between the spouses. It becomes a visible, everyday witness to the gospel.
1
0 comments
Marriage a Testimony of The Gospel
Suggested communities
Powered by