Being a husband is an important job that can only be successful if a man understands his responsibilities in marriage.
A husband’s responsibilities in marriage include, among others, the love for his wife.
When God instituted marriage, he gave husbands the prerogative to love their wives. The husband must therefore be the wife’s lover. Ephesians 5:25 instructs the husband to love his wife just as Christ also loved the church. The husband is further enjoined to love his wife even as he loves himself (Ephesians 5:28, 33). These verses give us a better picture of the husband’s relationship with his wife.
It is normal for every man to love himself. He spends time working hard in order to take good care of himself. His needs, his desires, his aspirations, his hopes, his body, and his comfort are very important to him (Mack, 1979:31). Scripture says that a man should love and take care of his wife in the same way that he loves and takes good care of himself. He should love her as he loves himself. This is embedded in the Biblical fact that when the two get married, they are joined to each other to become one. She is in actual fact his body – which he should love and cherish.
The Scripture further enjoins the husband to love his wife just as Christ loved the church. The husband’s love for his wife is in actual fact likened to Christ’s love for his calling. This is indeed a higher calling – Christ’s love for his church was characterised by the following traits: “unconditional, intense, unselfish, purposeful, sacrificial, visible, and volitional (he choose to love us)”.
Christ manifested his love for his church through words and deeds. He gave his life sacrificially on the cross to declare his love for his church. His church is without blemish and is declared righteous before God because of Christ’s love for his church. God then uses this as a standard through which a husband has to judge and be judged in his relationship with his wife. Christ ultimately becomes a model to every husband regarding the way they should love their wives.
Every husband should press toward the goal of loving his wife, just as Christ loved his church. This is a tall order, but we should strive and run towards this goal.
The next article will focus on practical ways of how best you can love your wife.
