Family relationships: Part 4
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Searching the Scriptures
David A. Bass, Rockford Church of Christ
Contrary to popular opinion God has given instructions in the Bible concerning the roles of both husband and wife in the home. Society has twisted, perverted and ignored God’s roles. Many disregard and scoff at God’s teaching. What does the Bible say about the husband and father in the home?
Since sin first entered the world in the Garden of Eden God has made the husband and father the
head of the home. In Genesis 3:16 listen to God speaking, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” We also read in the New Testament, “For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” (Ephesians 5:23). In a day in which many are demanding equality for women this is not a very popular idea. Just a few years ago most wedding vows included the promise of the wife to “obey her husband,” but this is rarely the case any more.
There must be authority in the home just as there is in the government, on the job, in the school, etc. This principle is true even in the godhead. We read in I Corinthians 11:3, “But I would have
you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of
Christ is God.”
God is the head over Christ just as the man is the head over the woman. Christ did not feel mistreated or abused, neither should a wife. If a man is unwilling to be the head of his home he is not ready for marriage. As the head of the home, a husband must provide guidance and leadership, and yet he
must never be unreasonable or require anything that is contrary to God’s will.
Second of all, a husband must love his wife! True love will regulate a husband’s conduct toward his wife and not allow him to abuse his authority as the head of the wife. A husband’s love for his wife should be second only to the love that he has for God and Christ. A man should love his wife far more than his father and mother (Matthew 19:5) and more than his children. Ephesians 5:25 reads, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it.”
Jesus loved the church enough that He died for it!
We read in Colossians 3:19, “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”
A husband who loves his wife will not abuse her (physically, mentally or verbally) but will treat her with respect and kindness.
Solomon said, “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).
A man’s wife ought to be the most important and special person on earth to him! We would all do well to study carefully the characteristics of love that are found in I Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
Husbands, be faithful to your wife. The Bible says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). Magazines, movies, the internet, and television all glamorize adultery as fashionable and acceptable. God says that adultery will keep you out of heaven. Galatians 5:19-21 lists “adultery” as one of the “works of the flesh” and God says “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” It is never right to be unfaithful to your wife! I Corinthians 6:18 says to “flee fornication.”
Paul says, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:28). This kind of love will prevent a man from being unfaithful to his wife!
Husbands, love your wives! Read what the Bible says about a godly marriage. Search the Scriptures.
Come worship with us at the Rockford Church of Christ on 8997 U.S. Hwy. 231 just below Dollar
General. Bible study is at 9 a.m., and worship is at 10:00. Contact us: Dabass1962@bellsouth.net.
