The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 230

wife; and the loyalty of Christ's people to their Master indicates the loyalty the wife should show the husband. Husbands and wives thua owe to Christ the purification of their relations and the sanctification of the home I • • L JESUS LEFT ms HEAVENLY HOIIE '"TO DE UNI'PED '1'0 BIB BRIDE, THE' CHUBOII. (Ver. 31.) It is evident that the parallel between the' son leaving father and mother that he may cleave unto his wife, and Jesus' leaving the bosom of the Father to be united to the bride, the Church, is what is in the apostle's mind.. ;fle says that he speaks of Christ and the Church (ver. 32). And in no·more 1 beautiful way can the self-denial of Jesus in leaving heaven be presented. Heaven had been: :fron:i. all eternity the happy home of the only be~otten Son. •He had lain in the ·Father's bosom and enjoyed ineffable bliss. But thougllts of marri~ae came, and the Father favoured the Son's idea. The morningdawued wheu Jesus must leave the homestead, an'd go forth t..:i win his bride. Angels may well have wondered at the step and doubted its wisdom. But the step is taken. The home is left, &nd never &.,,0'3.in can it be what it once.was, It is to be tenanted in due time with a bride, the Lamb's wjfe, composed of a multitude that no man can number, happy souls, each and all in deepest unity with the Son. We ci.o not sufficiently appreciate the ma.,anificent design of God in the marriage of •his only Son, or the condescension of the Son in forming such an olliance as he has .done. For no condescension in earthly marringes can more than feebly illustrate the condescension 0f the Divine Son in taking a human bride. Princes may marry paupers, but tho difference between poverty nnd princely weruth is as nothing compared with the difference between human nature and what is Divine. But ·besides,the human· nature was not pure upon which he set his love; it was sinful, lost, ruined. Imagine a prince, out of pure as distinguished from passionate love, singling out some poor, abandoned woman, and arra.nging for her education and health and elevation· in thought and feeling, until at last he can fairly marry her and give her share of his.glories and his home ;-this is but a faint image of what Jesus the Son of God has done in selecting as a bride the ruined human race, He determined to win his bride, and so he took sinless human nature on him, and arranged for the union of once sinful, but through grace sanctified., human nature with himself. II. THE CABB OF JESUS FOB THB 0mraCH IS THB IDEAL AT WIDCH HUSBANDS eioULD ADl m CABiliG FOB THEIR WIVES. (Vers. 25-33.) This is Paul's idea in this whole passage. Let us notice the order of the thought. 1. (J/vrist loved the <Jhurch, This sovereign and yet IIl.05t unselfuh love led t;o the whole history of Christ's devotion. His greai heart recognized the po&Sibilities of love when manifested to lost souls, and deiecmi:ned to realize them_ 2. He gaflB himselffur it. Here was heroic love. In the oatore of things husbands cannot give themselves to death for their wives and after.;. 1rarc.s enjoy their confidence. Bnt Christ was able to give himself for the Chmch and then to en.rer into union with it. But it surely shows that a husband who truly turns his wife shonld be ready to die for her. 3. His sel,f-sacrifice wa.a to secure the Church's wndificatwn. The Church was natura\ly polluted., sinful, degraded; but the whole history of Christ's devotion goes to show that he had our sanctification in Yiew. While setting his love on sinful souls, he hated our sib, and provided blood to cleanse our sin away. And the sanctification Christ secures for his bride is to be perfect. She ill to be without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;" she is to be" holy and without blemish." In other words, the sanctification is to be thorough. And is this not to show that husbands who are true to their wives should keep their sanctification steady as a star before them? If a husband does all in his power to 1,roruote his wife's holiness, she can never bCJ the victim of.. any unholy lust, but sancti- fication will characterize every relation. 4. The love thus lavished on the wife is the love of a man's " bette1' self." To encourage this gallant and holy dCJvotion to women, Paul further shows the compensation. 'l'he husband and wife are one, just as Christ and tho Ci,urch are ot1e. In loving his wife a man is really loving himself. It is self-love as di.,;tingnii;ht:d from selfishness. It is the love of a man's "better self." A man is n0t expected to hate hiB own flesh, but to nourish and cherish it ; self-preservation diet~U:S such a crJurse • in the same way busbandJJ should love their wives, cherish- ing t::i~P.1 as rc:ally thek" better hah-es," or rather," better selves," and feeling assured tiiai a r:u,r:,.'11 real interests all lie in the direction of ten,ler consideration towards hie "'i1e. It th<.1s a:,r·~a:-.s that Je1JW1 has furni~hed the true id, al of devotion. We go not CH. V, 1-33.) 'l'.HE EPU:l'l'LE 'l'O '!'HE EPHESIANS. 231