The Mystery of Marriage
How is marriage a mystery? Well, if you have been married, then you know that marriage can be difficult while at the same time a tremendous blessing. But that’s not the mystery.
In the original Greek language “mystery” was not a puzzle to be solved. Rather, it meant something hidden, not to be understood until it was revealed. Verse 32 of our sermon text reveals the answer — Christ.
Marriage is patterned on Christ’s union with the church. And we know that Christ gave his life for us. His love for us and his gift of eternal salvation to mankind is indeed a profound mystery.
Likewise, the mystery of marriage is the mutual submission asked of each role. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and women are to submit to their husbands. No easy task for either party.
However, we are to serve one another just as Christ served us.
That two-letter word ‘as’ is significant. It is not a request, but rather a statement that points us to Christ. Of course we will fail to do this perfectly, but we know we have His grace and gift of eternal life.
Here is today’s sermon text from Ephesians 5:
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
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