Biblical Gender Roles in Marriage
(Ephesians 5:21-33)
Pastor Josh Whitney (josh@trc.life)

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

I. Our good God made

and

Reveal Answer

.

II. Our good God made

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in marriage.

Ephesians 5:21 Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

III. The wife’s primary role is

honoring, supporting, and submitting to her husband’s leadership.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.

IV. The husband’s primary role is providing

by leading, loving, serving, protecting and providing for his wife.

Ephesians 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

V. Women, marry a man who reminds you of

.
Men, marry a woman who reminds you of a

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.

We value both the husband and the wife mutually loving and honoring one another, in following Christ’s supreme example. We also promote differing but complementary roles in the family with the husband as the head of the household, loving, serving and leading his wife, and his wife honoring, supporting, and submitting to her husband wholeheartedly

Verses for further study:

Genesis 1-3, Matthew 19:4-6, John 6:38, John 14:26, 1 Cor. 7, 1 >>Cor. 11:1-16, Gal. 3:28, Col. 3:18-19, 1 Tim. 2:8-15, 1 Tim. >>3:1-13, 1 Tim. 5:8, Titus 2:1-5, 1 Peter 3:1-7, 1 John 3:16.

Resources for further study:

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - John Piper & Wayne Grudem
This Momentary Marriage - John Piper
What’s the Difference? - John Piper
Equal yet Different - Alex Strauch
Feminine Appeal - Carolyn Mahaney
Let me be a Woman - Elisabeth Elliot
A Woman After God’s Own Heart - Elizabeth George
Girl Talk - Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Whitacre