Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ep 5:1-2 and following. Indeed, the apostle Paul warns of vain and crazy words that we can speak or listen to. Once darkness, we are now light in the Lord; between the two: our conversion. Two states to which correspond two marches: that of yesteryear (Eph 2:1-3 and Eph 4:17-19) and that which must characterize us from now on. Created for good works, let us walk in them (Eph 2:8-10). Called to the glory of Christ, let us walk in a manner worthy of this call (Eph 4:1-3). Children of the God of love, let us walk in love (Eph 5:1-2). Having become “light in the Lord,” let us walk as children of light (Eph 5:8; Jn 11:7-10).
Indeed, nowadays dangerous and evil, let us look where we set foot; let’s walk carefully. Are all these conditions a painful constraint? Not at all. And the Christian must show his joy and gratitude. Each of us knows the regret of having missed opportunities, both for service and for testimony. At least let us know how to grasp those that are still ahead of us. And let us not miss the unique and wonderful opportunity to live the rest of our short earthly life for the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy of it.
In fact, it is love that will dictate to the husband his attitude. And again the perfect Model is evoked: Christ in his divine affections for his Assembly. Here finally, she is his Bride. As such, she has received, receives and will receive from her love the most excellent proofs. Yesterday, Christ surrendered Himself for the Assembly (Eph 5:1-2). Today, He surrounds her with His care, purifies her, nourishes her, cherishes her, and prepares her tenderly for the glorious encounter (Eph 5:26, 29; Eph 4:4-16). Tomorrow He will present her, worthy of Him, for His joy, without blemish, wrinkle, or anything like it, but glorious, holy and blameless, because then it will be clothed with His own perfections (Eph 5:27).
For the imitation prescribed to us is not artificial, but natural. So, we must walk in love. This is not natural to us as children of Adam, but it is natural to us as born of God, for God is love. To walk in love, therefore, is simply to manifest practically the divine nature. That is why he adds: “as christ also loved us”, since in Christ we saw the divine nature in all its fullness and perfection. Moreover, in His case, it was love that pushed to act. And He gave Himself up for us as a sacrifice to God.
The firm and sharp way in which the apostle draws a line of demarcation here is quite remarkable. For the kingdom of Christ and God is characterized by holiness. The profane are outside this kingdom, and subject to the wrath of God. It was not to be mistaken, for there were then, as now, those who wished to blur this clear distinction, and to excuse impiety. Other passages indicate that a true believer may fall into these sins, but no true believer is characterized by them. For no one characterized by these sins can be considered a true Christian, no matter what he may say or profess.
That is why the attitude of the true Christian towards such persons must be regulated by this: Whatever they profess, they have no part in the kingdom of God; we who have a heritage in the kingdom, so we can have no part with them. We must not only avoid sins, but also avoid participation with sinners. People and various forms of evil must be avoided. The difference between us and them is as great and clear as between light and darkness. Three words summarize what this fruit is: goodness, justice and truth. Their opposite: evil, iniquity, lack of reality, should be entirely excluded from our lives. Walking in this way as children of light, we experience what pleases God; we experience it not through a process of reasoning, but through practical experience. We put things to the test, and so we learn experimentally for ourselves.
It is therefore a question of revealing, as if by light, the true character of the works in question. If a believer shines in his true character, his whole life will have this effect, just as his Master did to the highest degree. Nevertheless, there can be many occasions when words of reprehension are needed. And trouble begins when holiness is maintained, and holiness, as these verses show, requires that there be no communion with evil, neither with those who do evil (Eph 5:7), nor with their works (Eph 5:11). When a believer walks the path of separation that is asked of him here, and manifests himself as a child of light, he can expect storms. So it was to the supreme degree, for our Lord and Master. “God is love” has always been a more popular text than “God is light”.
For these exhortations detailed from Eph 4:17 to Eph 5:21 were applicable to all believers. We now begin special exhortations, and the apostle turns to the wives. Indeed, for them, the exhortation can be summed up in two words: “be submissive”. This flows naturally from the general exhortation to submission in Eph 5:21. The difficulty of submission is that it involves not claiming our own will. It is quite clear, in the divinely established order of things for this world, that the place attributed to the bride is that of submission. Its place is typical of the position in which the Church finds itself vis-à-vis Christ. Just as Christ is “the Head of the assembly,” being vested with all authority, ability, and power to lead, so the husband is “the head (or head) of the wife.”
Unfortunately in practice, throughout the centuries, the church (as a professing body) has moved far from its true position. The church “is subject to Christ” according to the divine plan; she has been very rebellious in her effective conduct. She acted for herself, and legislated as if she were the head and not the body. From this comes the confusion in ecclesiastical circles, so evident everywhere. For when the wife, the very wife of Christ, sets aside the authority of her own husband, similar troubles ensue.
Indeed, the wife may allege that she has an awful and incompetent husband. And too often this is indeed the case. But the remedy for this is not to overthrow the divine order. The church certainly has no such excuse, for it has an absolutely perfect Head(a Leader), who is not only the Head of the body, but also the Savior of the body. But because the human husband, even a believer, is frequently very imperfect, and always somewhat imperfect, an even longer exhortation is addressed to him. In a word, his duty is to love. It is easy to see that if the husband returns to his wife all the love that is due to him, she will not have much difficulty in giving her husband the submission that is due to him. Obviously, the greatest responsibility is placed on the shoulders of the husband. He must love, and she must be submissive, but the initiative rests on him.
When we turn from the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of the husband, who is the type, to the antitype that, as always, is seen in Christ, we find ourselves in the presence of perfection. The initiative did indeed come from Him, and He took it in a very wonderful way. He not only loved the congregation, but He surrendered Himself for it. Moreover, He has undertaken His practical sanctification, and Purification, and He will finally present it to Himself in glory in a perfection that fits Him perfectly.
The presentation of the perfect assembly will take place in future glory. It will be Christ’s gift to Himself! It will be entirely His work because He has loved, He has surrendered Himself, He has sanctified, He has purified and, He has nourished, He has cherished and, in the end, He will present it to Himself. A most wonderful work, and a triumph of the most wonderful. Let us keep this aspect of things in mind, especially when we are discouraged by the difficulties present in the assembly, and we are sadly aware of its painful state.
Now all these facts about Christ and the church must shed light on the relationship between a believing husband and his believing wife. The relationship of marriage is, therefore, placed in the highest possible light, in a light entirely unknown to Old Testament believers, which explains the fact that many of them freely practiced things totally forbidden to us today. We must walk in this light, and therefore the Christian husband must love his wife as he loves himself (this is not a small measure) and the wife must revere her husband.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Exhortation to live in holiness:
- Blessings Promised to disciples
-Spiritual knowledge Os 6:3 Let us know, seek to know the Lord; His coming is as certain as that of the dawn. It will come for us as the rain, as the rain of spring that waters the earth.
-Spiritual light Jn 8:12 Jesus spoke to them again, and said: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but he will have the light of life.
-Direction, thanks to his voice Jn 10:27 My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Heavenly Honor Jn 12:26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there too will be my servant. If someone serves me, the Father will honor him.
-A divine example 1 P 2:21 And this is what you have been called to, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you might follow in his footsteps,
- Christian purity
Ps 24:3-4 Who will be able to ascend to the mountain of the Lord? Who will rise to his holy place? – 4 He who has innocent hands and a pure heart; He who does not surrender his soul to lies, and who does not swear to deceive. Mt 5:8 Blessed are those who have a pure heart, for they will see God! 1 Tim 1:5 The purpose of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 1 Tim 5:22 Do not lay hands on anyone in haste, nor do you participate in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 1 P 1:22 Having purified your souls by obeying the truth to have sincere brotherly love, love one another ardently, with all your heart,
- Examine all things
Jer 6:27 I had established you in observation among my people, Like a fortress, that you may know and search their way. Eph 5:10 Examine what is pleasing to the Lord;1 Thes 5:21 But examine all things; remember what is good;1 Jn 4:1 Beloved, do not add faith to every spirit; but test the spirits, to know whether they are of God, for many false prophets have come into the world.
- How to achieve the Right use of Time
-By becoming aware of the brevity of life Ps 90:12 Teach us to count our days well, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
-Striving for piety during his youth Ec 12:1 Young man, rejoice in your youth, give your heart to joy during the days of your youth, walk in the ways of your heart and according to the eyes of your eyes; but know that for all this God will call you to judgment.
-Giving priority to spiritual duties 1 Co 7:29 This is what I say, brethren, is that time is short; that henceforth those who have wives be as if they do not have any;
-if they did not have 1 Co 7:31 and those who use the world as not using it, for the figure of this world passes.
-By living wisely Eph 5:15-16, therefore, be careful to behave with circumspection, not as fools, but as wise men;16 redeem time, for the days are bad.
-By setting a good example before the world Col 4:5 Lead yourself wisely to those outside, and redeem time.
From all the above, we note three other points. First, this mystery concerns Christ and the assembly, not an assembly; we are not talking about a local assembly, nor a certain number of local assemblies. It is the assembly, a glorious body, and not the assembly seen as a professing body; rather, it is the assembly as this chosen body fruit of divine labor. Second, the thought of the body is introduced here, for it is spoken of us who constitute the assembly as “members of His body”. But the main thought of the passage is that of the wife, because the place of the church is put forward as the model of Christian women. We emphasize this point because it is sometimes emphasized that the congregation is the body of Christ to argue that it cannot take the place of either bride or wife. But the fact is that this passage indicates that the assembly (or the church) has these two positions, of body of Christ and bride. This is made even more evident by the third point we highlight. The original creation of Adam and Eve was arranged for Christ and the assembly. Now Eve was Adam’s wife, but she was also his body, having been formed from a rib of Adam. Adam’s rib undoubtedly caused a lot of hilarity and sarcasm among the supposedly Christian modernist unbelievers. But this fact clearly serves as the basis for reasoning. This is almost always the case. Here in the New Testament, we are in the presence of an allusion to this old Testament story, which has been ridiculed. For one cannot reject one without also rejecting the other, if you add honesty and mental integrity to modernism. For our part, we wholeheartedly accept these two facts. For the main thought is that of the wife, and the place of the church is put forward as the model of Christian women, subject to their husbands and husbands loving their wives as themselves. Our prayers are with all of you in your efforts to achieve this.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on “the duties of children and parents; servants and masters.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.