Education Insights • 2024 • Volume 2 • Issue 1 19 Ephesians 5:25-33: A Man of God Will Love His Wife as Christ Loved the Church Ephesians is a pivotal book in the New Testament. A significant part of this important epistle is directed to life in the home, with special emphasis on the role of husbands and fathers. The centerpiece of Paul’s address to husbands is his teaching that they are to love their wives “as Christ loved the church” (v. 25). Paul utilizes the word love several times in this section of Scripture, six times in just verses 25-33. The word for love is not that of a romantic fairytale or Disney storyline but instead a biblical, humble, sacrificial commitment of love. Hoehner unpacks the definition of this kind of love: “It refers to love irrespective of merit, even to the undeserving. The present imperative reinforces the idea that a husband’s love for his wife is to be an ongoing process. Thus, in this context husbands are to love their wives even when they may seem undeserving and unloving, in other words, unconditionally.”4 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin has suggested five ways in which a man will love his wife according to Ephesians 5:25-33: his love will be sacrificial (v. 25); his love will be sanctifying (vv. 26-27); his love will be sensitive (v. 28); his love will be satisfying (vv. 29-30); his love will be specific (vv. 31-33).5 Ephesians 6:1-4: A Man of God Will Discipline and Develop His Children in the Discipline and Instruction of the Lord Paul shifts his focus to fathers as he concludes his teachings on household conduct by urging fathers to develop and discipline their children in the Lord. Paul gives fathers two responsibilities in verse 4, with one being negative (“do not provoke your children to anger”) and one being positive (“but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord”). Paul, therefore, lays the primary responsibility in the home for teaching children upon the father, giving general guidelines about how and what to teach them. Since God’s Word is timeless and authoritative in all cultures and settings, the implications today are for fathers to lovingly and compassionately lead their children. The positive responsibilities Paul gives to fathers are expressed via two nouns. The first noun having to do with discipline (παιδείᾳ) and the second having to do with development (νουθεσίᾳ). Both nouns are modified by the last noun in the sentence κυρίου. The reference is to the Lord of the Bible, which means Christian fathers should see the Fatherhood of God as their standard. 4 Hoehner, Ephesians, 747. 5 Daniel L. Akin, “When a Man Loves a Woman: How to Be the Husband God Meant You to Be” (class notes—Marriage Retreat Session at Black Fox Lodge, Sevierville, TN, January 31-February 2, 2020). The headings for this section are from my notes on Akin’s presentation. Material attributed to Akin elsewhere in this section is also excerpted from my notes and may not represent exact quotations.
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