GENDER ROLES IN MARRIAGE

“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” —Ephesians 5:24-25

COMPLEMENTARITY IN MARRIAGE:

One of the things that is very clear in Scripture but has become increasingly unpopular in our culture is the idea that God created men and women

.

Though it may be personally distasteful or hard to receive, recovering God’s design for marriage requires us to embrace our God-given, complementary, gendered roles.

THE ROLE OF A WIFE:

According to God’s design for marriage, the role that a wife plays in relation to her husband is tied up in the word

.

Submission is the

act of yielding your will to the will/interests of another person.

God’s

in creating Eve was tied up in God’s

Reveal Answer

on Adam. A wife’s role in marriage ought to reflect that original sequence. (head/body)

Submission is not the same thing as

. A husband cannot demand submission from his wife. Biblical submission is always given voluntarily.

THE ROLE OF A MAN:

The role that a husband plays in relation to his wife can be summed up in the word

.

The role model for how husbands are to love their wives can be found in the person and work of

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.

For a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the Church he must

to himself. (John 15:13; John 3:16)

In verse 29, husbands are called to nourish and cherish their wives. Two goals should rise to the surface when husbands embrace this calling: (1) your wife’s

and (2) her personal

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.

How many problems would be

overnight if we simply embraced our God-given roles in marriage?

THE REASON FOR THE ROLES:

The reason God gave these roles to husbands and wives is because together they

in the physical realm the spiritual relationship between Christ and the Church.