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The Best
Family Life
Jesus and the
Father Model Relationship
for Marriage
Attitudes
Toward God
Determine
Attitudes
Towards Mates
Ephesians 5:22-33.
22"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the Church; and He is Saviour of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."
Humanly speaking, we link the identity of a husband, wife, and children to their particular family name. This, however, is only a surface identification. Family identity has a deeper root.
"Family" is a word that is rooted in God: God is Father - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Himself, God is a "divine family." This also expresses itself in the way that God relates to people. The Bible reveals this aspect of God's nature in rich and varied use of family imagery: God is our Father, God is Husband to His people, God is like a nurturing mother. Christ is the Bridegroom of the church.
When a man and a woman come together in marriage, God extends to them this name that in essence belongs to Him - the name of family. Husband, wife, and children live up to the true meaning of this name as they reflect the nature and life of the divine family in their human family.

 

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