Mystery of Marriage

Mystery of Marriage

Originally Written by Dennis Doughty, 2022.

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul reveals a great connection between husbands and wives, and Christ and the church (Eph. 5:22-32). He explains that "the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church." Because of this, as the wives are to be subject "to their husbands in everything," so then "the church is subject to Christ" in everything.

This bond is based upon the love that each has for the other. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and game Himself up for her." In this way the husband "nourishes and cherishes" the wife, "just as Christ also does the church."

Paul then takes this analogy to an even greater level as he writes, "This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church." Foy E. Wallace rightfully concluded, "The sacredness of marriage is seen in God's design of it, from the very beginning, to be a figure of the union of Christ and his church; and the glorious importance of the church appears in the fact of its having been in the design of God from the very beginning." Husbands and wives were designed by God as a blessing to both, and in the same eternal plan, so was Christ and the church designed by God as a blessing to all mankind.