The most obvious and effective way to tell people about Jesus and what He has done for us is to show them by the way we live. In the B.B. McKinney hymn, “Let Others See Jesus In You,” we are reminded that people watch us. McKinney wrote, “Your life’s a book before their eyes, They’re reading it thro’ and thro,’ Say does it point them to the skies, Do others see Jesus in you?”

When Paul said we ought to submit ourselves “one to another in the fear of God,” he was teaching us that there are times when we should subdue our own will in the relationships we have in the home, church and in the world. We submit as we set aside, with God’s help, our selfishness. We experience God’s love and know He wants us to love other people.

The apostle went on to talk about the relationship between husbands and wives. There are often pictures in Scripture of that depict spiritual truths. Marriage, however it may be viewed by some people, is one of those pictures of a precious truth. They might not remember it, but I always tell couples their wedding is a display of Christ, the Bridegroom, coming for His Bride, the church.

If a marriage is going to thrive, this display of Christ and His Church must always be in the minds and hearts of the husband and wife. This is how we have help in understanding, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” The wife sees herself in relationship to her husband as the church sees itself in relationship to Christ. This is the kind of relationship Paul was describing when he wrote “as unto the Lord.”

This verse has sometimes been taken out of context to say things that are not true about the husband-wife relationship. God intends for the wife’s role in a marriage to be special just as it is for husbands, and this is supported in verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” This is further supported in the 28th verse when Paul writes, “So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies.” We find even more support for this in verse 29: “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh.”

In other words, it makes no sense for a man to mistreat and abuse his wife. She is not a doormat, and it is completely against God’s will for a marriage.

Christ gave Himself for the church “that it should be holy and without blemish.” When He died on the cross, Jesus wanted the best for us, and a husband desires the best for his wife. A Christian husband wants his wife to be able to serve and glorify God in the home as well as in the church.

Paul said a Christian marriage is “a great mystery,” but it is not mysterious. Marriage is a spiritual picture and testimony of Christ’s relationship to the church. Our lives are books. Do others see Jesus in us?

The Sunday School Lesson is written by Ed Wilcox, pastor of Centerville Baptist Church. [email protected].

Ed Wilcox

Sunday School Lesson