Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Walking through Ephesians - Day 124

versebyverse | April 01, 2008 19:55

Thought:  To me, Christ's love is rich in its holy purposes.  Good marriages will also flourish if they set moral purity as an important goal.

Question:  When I love someone, is my goal to see them kept pure?

Scripture:  Ephesians 5:26 (NIV):  "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,"

Why did Christ "give Himself up for the church"?  To make her holy and clean.  We cannot make ourselves holy.  We cannot cleanse ourselves.  We are truly helpless to function in a religion of reformation that, by personal ability and effort, corrects our flaws.  Perhaps we can strain until a few things appear better, but by and large, the corruption that works sin up and out of us into the world and against others is impossible for us to purify.  Only Jesus' blood can correct our sinful natures.  We are "made holy" only by Jesus Christ's holiness being imparted to us.  In other words, Christ has the ability to "save" the church; apparently husbands also have the responsibility to care for their wives in the same way, that is, to heroically bring them into what is good for them.  Christ wants the church good and clean--so should a husband want his wife to be.  Christ only has the power to preserve and save the church--so do men have the authority and the responsibility to protect their wives and bring them into improvements.

This kind of love that a husband is exhorted to have for his wife the, is a copy of Christ's love that exists solely for the welfare of the church.  Christ does not love to receive something back from the church in a direct sense; but indirectly He is happy to see her response to His holiness by her acquisition of it from Him and growth in it, of course.  So too, the husband should not be motivated to love her in order to get something from her, but to gift her so well that she indirectly returns to the husband the benefits of the graces received from him.  Christ will be happy to present His bride, the church, to His heavenly Father, as a clean, unblemished body, in that Great Day in the future.  So should a husband be so loving as to be proud of where he has steered his wife, proud of how she has flourished under his care and doting, proud of how she is all she is because of him and his care of her.  True love always cares to see the loved one become successful and rich in happiness.  Jesus Christ longs to bring us along to successful faith.  Our future is all His concern.

Christ cleanses the church "by the washing with water through the word."  This phrase appears elsewhere in scripture.  Titus 3:5 talks of "washing of rebirth."  Psalm 119:9 speaks of the word "cleansing one's way."  John 15:3 says we are clean through the spoken word of Christ.  But also here in Ephesians water is brought into the picture.  I believe it is figurative and not literal; that is, that God's Word is like water which is a cleansing agent.  God's Word is likened to water all throughout scripture.  It is the water to our spirit that we so thirst for as the message, the communication, from God.  Water has many beautiful functions:  one of them is its use for cleaning.  God's Word is a cleanser for our filthy hearts.  We cannot clean our hearts ourselves.  But God's Word directs us to where we find the only effective help:  to Christ.  Jesus' blood is the true cleanser, and God's Word brings us there.  The whole of scripture is a fantastical panorama of why we need Jesus, where He came from, what He did, Who He really is (God), and the impact He made on our world historically and spiritually, plus the most important message of all:  how to have Jesus' blood applied to our lives.  The last book, Revelation, in the last passage, dwells entirely on one theme:  the call to "come."  Come to the blood!  Come to the fountain of salvation in order to be clean!

If Christ has died to provide this kind of cleansing, so should husbands base their motives of love on keeping their wives pure, undefiled, holy and morally clean in every way.  Could we conclude that the deepest expression of love is to facilitate and enjoy the wholesome purity of the loved one?  That's something to think about, isn't it?

Prayer:  King of our hearts, call us back to the special love Christ demonstrates through His life and death!  Fill Christian marriages with sacrificial love.  Amen. 

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