Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20130602.htm

THE PRISON EPISTLES: NURTURE FOR OPPRESSED BELIEVERS
I. Ephesians: Nurture In Living Focused On God's Eternal Purpose For Christians
C. Nurture In Applying The Believer's Positional Truth To Life And Ministry
6. Nurture In God's Personal Spiritual Empowering For Godly Marital Roles
(Ephesians 5:18-21, 22-33)
  1. Introduction
    1. When Paul wrote the "Prison Epistles" of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon, the fact that he was in prison troubled believers, Philippians 1:12-13; Colossians 2:1-2; 4:7-8 and Philemon 22; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672, "Introduction to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians."
    2. To nurture his readers, and for them to nurture others, Paul urged them in Ephesians 5:18-21 to apply their positional truths in Christ to a godly walk via God's personal spiritual empowering, and he applied this directive to godly marital roles in Ephesians 5:22-33 as follows:
  2. Nurture In God's Personal Spiritual Empowering For Godly Marital Roles, Eph. 5:18-21, 22-33.
    1. By relying on the Holy Spirit to be under His control, what we previously learned is meant by the Spirit's "filling" in Ephesians 5:18, believers are to submit to one another in godly reverence, Ephesians 5:21.
    2. Ephesians 5:22 reveals that one of the realms of submission is that of married women submitting to their husbands, and the Apostle Paul expounded on this role in Ephesians 5:22-24, 33b:
      1. The believing wife is to submit to her "own, private" (idios, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 370-371; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 370-371) "man [husband]" ( aner, Ibid.; U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 65-66) "as to the Lord," Ephesians 5:22.
      2. Explaining what "as to the Lord" meant, Paul wrote that a husband is the head of the wife similar to how Christ is the head of the Church and the Savior of its body, Ephesians 5:23. Much as the Church is subject to Christ as its head and Savior, wives are to submit to their own husbands as their heads and "saviors" in all realms of life, Ephesians 5:24.
      3. In Ephesians 5:33b, Paul concluded that a wife was thus to respect (phobeo, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 870-871) her "man, husband" (aner again, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.).
    3. However, just as wives are to rely on the Holy Spirit to submit this way to their husbands, Paul implied that husbands must also rely on the Holy Spirit to relate properly to their wives, Ephesians 5:25-33a:
      1. Picking up on the theme of Christ being the "Savior" of the body of the Church, Paul explained that husbands, likewise relying on the Holy Spirit for His control, are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it to sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, in order to present it to himself as a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, that it should be holy and without blemish, Ephesians 5:25-28.
      2. In this way, a husband is to love his wife as he does his own body, and thus to "nourish" (ektrepho, Ibid., p. 245-246) and to "cherish, comfort" (thalpo, Ibid., p. 351) her as he does his own physical body, even as the Lord does the Church in the spiritual realm, Ephesians 5:29-30.
      3. In other words, a husband is to be the "savior" of his wife in the sense that he is to oversee and provide for her care and nurture as he cares for and nurtures his own body.
      4. Paul added that this directive to husbands coincides with the Genesis 2:24 explanation that a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they two will be one flesh, Ephesians 5:31. Thus, husbands are to love their wives as they do themselves, overseeing and caring for them as they do their own bodies as "saviors" in a sense of their wives, Ephesians 5:32-33a.
      5. Not only does this directive refer to a general attitude of overseeing care, but 1 Timothy 5:8 reveals the man's duty includes being the breadwinner for his wife [and home]. As Christ expended the energy to come to this earth to die on the cross for the Church's salvation, so husbands are to expend the energy needed to provide for the protection and nurture of their wives (and household).
Lesson: Relying by faith on the Holy Spirit's control, wives are to submit to their own husbands in all things like the Church submits unto the Lord, and husbands are to use their oversight to protect and nurture their wives, taking the needed initiative to provide for them as they provide for their own bodies.

Application: May we wives and husbands rely on the Holy Spirit to function in our proper marital roles.