Husbands and Wives

Paul is often criticized for his position on marriage.

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind-yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. - Ephesians 5:21-28

Back in his day, women were the responsibility of the husband.  They couldn't work or own anything, so when the husband divorced them or died, they were left without a source of income, unless a son was old enough to support them.

But this letter may not have been written by Paul, but by a disciple in later years, when members of the church needed to be reminded of the responsibilities of the husband to his wife.

If we focus on the instruction to the wife to be subject to the husband, we may miss the larger message, that we need to act out of love for our life mate as we would treat ourselves.

Love is the foundation of our faith, the bond that holds together all members of the Church and links us to Christ.  Without love, we abuse one another and ignore the needs of others.

We shouldn't need to be reminded of this, but in our desire to be independent, we tend to forget that we need each other, and we exist for one another.

The assumption here that may be flawed is that we love ourselves.  That may not apply to all, and that may be the cause of so much anger and hatred between and among us.

Maybe we should focus on that and work at recovering our self-love.  That way, we can apply these words and truly show each other love.

Without love, abuse reigns.

More to come...