5:25
“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This is perhaps the most important verse in understanding submission. So much of the world’s thinking is geared around self. It is also why we find the concept of submission so difficult. The kingdom view of headship, indeed of all of life, is that we first love God, and then love others (Matt 22:38,39). The whole ethos is completely different. A man is not head of the household for his own benefit, but for the benefit of his wife and family. He is to sacrifice himself for the sake of his wife. Now even with this understanding, some women will object to the concept thinking that it means women are inferior to men and are dependent upon men. There are two things to say about this. The first is that it does not imply inferiority. The Son is subject to the Father, but is not inferior to the Father. Think of it in a natural setting. If you are a father your children are dependent upon you, but you do not consider them to be inferior. The second thing is that we are dependent upon each other. Women do need men, and men do need women. Marriage is not a contract, but a covenant. It is a much deeper relationship than a contract.
5:26
Paul now starts talking more about what Christ has done for us, intermingling it with comments on the marriage relationship. Christ gave Himself up for us in order to sanctify us. For us to be part of God’s kingdom, to be adopted into His family, we needed to be sanctified. So Christ gave Himself up for us. He cleansed us by “the washing of water with the word”. This probably refers to baptism, and to His word.
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