Marriage was instituted by God and designed by God. (See Genesis 2:18-25)

At the heart of the relationship is companionship and intimacy, which BOTH husband and wife must promote by their actions.

These things about marriage are not typically missed by Christians but this next point is missed in some circles.

The relationship seen between husband and wife is similar to that between Christ and the church and this has profound implications about our marriage relationships that entire books could (and have been) be written on.

Read: Ephesians 5:23, 31-32    Ephesians 5:25    Colossians 3:19    1 Peter 3:7

As Christ is head of the church, husbands are head of the family and wife, but this is NOT a domination sort of thing. As Christ models, we are to lead by serving. Furthermore, God makes clear there is no such thing as a “lesser” sex in 1 Peter 3:7 as it is pointed out that wives are “heirs with you of the gracious gift of life,”. There is a call here to respect wives and be considerate of them which lines up perfectly with the idea of leading by serving.

Don’t confuse the point made in 1 Peter about wives being “weaker” with “lesser”. This statement is merely pointing to the typical biology that makes it easy for men to be physically strong and women not as much (its a muscle density thing, women can still be quite physically strong). This is NOT to say that women are somehow weak in ability as they prove time and again otherwise. Instead, when taken in context of the surrounding scriptures, we see here a call to be considerate of women (especially wives) such that we (as men) avoid being physically harsh or abusive.

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As I’ve said, there’s is much to this topic, but I’ll leave it there – for now.

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