PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Christ is to be expressed in the human life, not in the angelic life. Angels cannot express Christ. The Father has ordained that we, His chosen ones, be the expression of His Son. If we live in union with Christ, allowing the word of Christ to saturate us, Christ will be expressed through our humanity. Therefore, the living of the believers in union with Christ results in the expression of Christ in human life. If we realize this, we shall praise the Lord for our human living. In the relationships between wife and husband and between children and parents, we need to express Christ by being filled in our spirit with the Spirit and by being saturated with the word of Christ.

(a) Wives Subject to Their Own Husbands as to the Lord

The relationship between wives and husbands is connected to the matter of being filled in spirit and saturated with the word of Christ. It is an aspect of the daily living of those who are filled in spirit unto all the fullness of God. Therefore, when we speak about the relationship between wives and husbands, we should not neglect the infilling. Only by being filled in our spirit can we have a proper married life.

In Ephesians 5:22 Paul says, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord." Concerning this, Colossians 3:18 says, "The wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." The wives are to be subject to their own husbands. Because most wives appreciate and respect others' husbands, Paul exhorts the wives to be subject to their own husbands, no matter what kind of husbands they have.

According to Paul's word in Ephesians 5:22, wives are to be subject to their own husbands "as to the Lord." The wives need to realize that in the eyes of the Lord the husband represents the Lord. The reason the wife must submit to her own husband is that in married life he is as the Lord. As Christ is the Head of the church and the Savior of the Body, wives must be subject to their husbands as to the Lord.

Wives must also take their husbands as the head. Ephesians 5:23 says, "For a husband is head of the wife as also Christ is Head of the church, being Himself the Savior of the Body." As head of the wife, a husband typifies Christ as the Head of the church. The Savior is a matter of love, whereas the Head is a matter of authority. We love Christ as our Savior, but we must also be subject to Him as our Head. It ought to be the same in the relationship between wives and husbands....

(b) Husbands Loving Their Own Wives as Christ Loving the Church

"Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). "Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter against them" (Colossians 3:18). Paul exhorts the husbands to love their wives. The opposite of subjection is ruling. However, Paul does not exhort the husbands to rule over their wives but to love them. In married life, the wife's obligation is subjection, and the husband's is love. The wife's subjection plus the husband's love constitutes proper married life and typifies the normal church life, in which the church is subject to Christ and Christ loves the church.

By being filled in spirit and saturated with the word of Christ, husbands are to love their wives "as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." A husband's love for his wife must be like Christ's love for the church. This means that a husband ought to give himself up for his wife. To give yourself up is to be a martyr, to sacrifice your life. Husbands are to love their wives at such a cost to themselves. They must be willing to pay a great price, even to die for their wives.

In Ephesians 5:28 Paul goes on to say, "The husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself." Here Paul twice speaks of husbands loving their own wives. This indicates that a husband is to love his wife without comparing her to others....

Verse 29 continues, "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church." We show love for our body by nourishing and cherishing it. To nourish is to feed. Spiritually speaking, husbands are to nourish their wives. Just as we eat for the sake of our body, so husbands need to take in something of the Lord for the sake of their wives. In doing this, a husband regards his wife as part of his body. A husband needs to nourish his wife, to take care of her need, just as he takes care of the need of his body....

Husbands should also love their wives as their own bodies by cherishing their wives. To cherish is to nurture with tender love and foster with tender care. To cherish something is to care for it deeply and warmly; it is to soften it through tender warmth. This is the way Christ cares for the church as His Body, and this is the way husbands should love their wives. Here we see the depth of the love a husband must have for his wife.

(continued on page 3)