Ephesians 5
Chapter 5
(Verses 1-10) (1-2) If loving Jesus and seeking to love others like he did is not the basis of out faith then we’re doing something wrong. The love of Jesus required sacrifice and strength of God. (3-5) As God’s representatives on the earth we have a responsibility to live lives that point back to him. Sin not only separates us from God but it takes the place of God as an idol that places our fleshly impulses and desires above his will for our lives. (6) It is important to define our relationship with God for ourselves because we can look at other people who say they love God but sin like it’s no big deal as if they are the standard because their way seems easier. Who wouldn’t want to be good with God and the world? But, it can’t work that way because sin literally repels God and angers him. (8-10) If you say you have a relationship with God but you’re still stumbling around in darkness like the person who could care less about Jesus then you’re only hurting yourself. The scary part is many people have been living in darkness so long, only letting in tiny rays of God’s light at time, that they think that this is as bright as it gets. They’ve gotten so comfortable in the shadows that they no longer see the necessity of God’s light to illuminate the dark places. However once you allow the full magnitude of God’s light to shine in your life, you are no longer able to exist in darkness. You not only perceive the light but you become the light as you reflect God’s glory. In this way, the light moves from something that you get, to something that you give as reflection of God sent to shine into dark spaces.
(Verses 10-14) For Christians silence is not an option. Yes, we should speak out in love, but we should speak out all the same. To learn to love we must look at Jesus. I must adapt my mouth and heart to Jesus. My language and conversation must be pure. It is bigger than just correcting a bad habit. It is a heart issue. When we do immoral things like engage in greed, alcohol, bad language, and sexual sin, we are putting those things above God and that’s the real problem.
We should just stop doing bad things. We should also recenter God and the desire to behave better will flow from there. As we walk in light, we reflect light. Therefore we change the question from what we can get away with to what pleases God. “Feelings of love, joy, and peace are just temporary feelings unless they come from God. Submission is not a bad thing. Even Jesus Christ submitted to the father. Submission is a natural expression of humility, respect, and love. It is and act of respect between equals.
(Verses 21-22) God uses marriage to humble and sanctify us. (it’s not the only thing he can use but it’s a big one) (21) submit to one and other out of reverence for Christ. For a Christian, every relationship is a chance to submit and point to the glory of God. Submission is not subjugation it is an act of free will taken by a child of the king. It is an expression of humility, respect, and love. (22) Submit. wives should allow their husbands to lead. even though our natural inclination might be to reject this it is the natural design of the relationship between husband and wife as seen in Genesis 2. We can’t get it twisted, this doesn’t mean that all men are always head over all women. Wives must submit to their own husbands, as unto the Lord. They are not to submit in exactly the same way they submit to God after all a husband is human and therefore imperfect. Wives are supposed to trust that they can submit to their husband because he is submitted to God. In this way a wife submits to her husband as part of the process of submitting to God.
(Verses 23-26) (23) Head and Body are not master and slave. They are part of the same body, on the same team. They have to work together or the whole body breaks down. (24) Submitting to a husband should be like submitting to Christ but Christ is worth submitting to because he, cherished, loved, and sacrificed for us. Therefore the the husband should work to be like Christ and love & sacrifice for his wife in the same way in order to be worthy of the submission that she is instructed to give. (25) The love in this verse refers to agape love. It means to die to your selfish desires in a way. That is the calling of the husband, to lead by sacrifice. Non of this should be by obligation, it should be a willing choice after all that’s what love is. Not a feeling, a choice. (26-30) just as the church is set apart by Christ as his body, a husband should love his wife a his loves his own body and vice versa.
(Verses 31-33) God designed everything on this planet to give himself glory and that includes the relationship between a husband and a wife. The idea that a husband should love his wife like Christ and the wife should respect her husband like the church is repeated several times showing how important this idea is to Gods design for marital relationships.
Let’s talk about it! Leave a comment.