“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

We’ve been discussing the role of wives in the home. Now, let’s turn our attention to the role of husbands. Paul is continuing his instruction on Christian relationships as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Husbands are to love their wives. The word for love here is the familiar word, agape, which is explained and defined for us in 1 Corinthians 13. This kind of love sacrifices for another. It does not take notice of faults against it. It is patient and kind. The descriptions could go on. Read and study 1 Corinthians 13 if you want to grasp what this kind of love is like.

The comparison that Paul is seeking to demonstrate here is the love of Jesus Christ toward His church. And what is the primary characteristic of Christ’s love for the church? He gave Himself up for her! He literally sacrificed Himself for the well-being of the church.

Now, some of us husbands will readily say that we would defend our wife from danger or take a bullet for her. But some of the more daily routine demonstrations of that same love are hard to come by. But we need to notice that our Lord’s giving Himself for the church is more than His death for her. His focus is on her spiritual growth and development. We’ll talk more about this next time.

For now focus on two things: First, our love for our wife should be agape love described for us in 1 Corinthians 13. Second, we should model our love for our wife after Christ’s example toward His church.