Went to church yesterday and the pastor was speaking on the pssage Ephesians 5 vs 21-33:
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c]32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
This is an interesting passage of scripture that i have often heard growing up, but yesterday the pastor focussed on what the instructions means for both parties. Now, the entire message was enlightening for me but the part that caught my attention right of the bat was “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”
What the…!?
Last i checked Christ died on the cross… in fact from what i heard about passion of the Christ, the death on the cross was just PART of what he suffered. And I’m supposed to be at a place where that sort of sacrifice is kosher?
Hiatus anyone?
P.S. I am still reading the book of Acts. Fascinating story. We know Paul dies in Rome but somehow the suspense is killing me. I keep hoping he will escape, that an angel will appear or some of the soldiers will take pity on him. In any case i have decided that book #3 will be Ephesians. It seems to be the most descriptive user manual for Christian living in the bible and promises to be an interesting read.