Day 18: Marriage: A Pattern of God’s Love

Dear friend,

Today we’ll see one of the most vivid and beautiful patterns of God’s love that we find in human experience: the marriage relationship.

The love of a husband for his wife is a beautiful thing. But beyond that, it’s a picture of an even deeper and greater love – the love of God, the love of Christ. You don’t need to be married yourself to see God’s love reflected in a healthy marriage. Marriages are part of God’s picture-book to show His love for us.

Paul brings this out in Ephesians 5:25-32. Speaking to husbands, he admonishes them of their responsibility to love their wives, but then he goes on to use the love of a husband for his wife as a picture of Christ’s love for His people, the church:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 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. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. [And then Paul quotes something from Genesis chapter 2] 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (NKJV)

You see, human marriage is a profound mystery, but it is also a picture of a yet more profound and wonderful mystery – the love of Christ for His church. So, Paul, in speaking to husbands and admonishing them that they have this divine responsibility to love their wives, takes that and uses it as a picture of the love of Christ for the church.

Next time, we will consider certain aspects of the kind of love that Paul is here talking about, exemplified in the love of a husband for a wife, but typifying the love of Christ for His church.

For reflection and prayer

How do I see God's love reflected in healthy marriages?