Series: Towards Maturity
God designed marriage and the family to work - and with His life flowing into it, it does! Love (God's kind of love) is the all-important key to a family's success. Let us first see the contrast of family life without God's love working in it:
Eph.5:23,25;1 Peter 3:7; Col.3:19The husband is not a dictator over his wife, any more than Jesus is a dictator over us (Luke 22:24-27; John 13:12-17). Rather, he is the head in the same way Jesus is the Head - he is to lead, protect and provide. . .always with her good in mind, not just his own. He is to love her as Jesus loves the Church, giving himself unselfishly for her to bring her full potential as a person to fulfilment.
(Note how the Bible personally addresses "husbands" - it is not for the wives to preach to their husbands, it is written to the husbands alone.)
Eph.5:22-24; 1 Peter 3:16; Col.3:18Submission is not subservience. It means to "fit in with" or "adjust yourself to" the husband. Adam needed someone of like-kind to fellowship and work with, in order to fulfil God's call and design. The husband and wife are a complement to each other (Gen. 2:18-25). Together they make one complete whole - "one flesh" . The wife expresses her love to her husband by "submitting" to him - fitting herself to his side! That way they walk together as one unit, not separate individuals.
(Note how the Bible personally addresses "wives" - it is not for the husband to tell his wife to submit to him, it is written to the wife alone.)
Ephesians 6:4; Proverbs 22:6Children learn what the Fatherhood of God is like through their parents and so we see in God the essential principles for the raising of our children:
Malachi 2:15
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Unless otherwise stated, all scriptures quoted in these studies are from the New International Version of the Bible, & copy; New York International Bible Society, used by permission. Other versions referred to are: KJV (King James Version), NKJB (New King James Bible), TLB (The Living Bible), Amp (The Amplified Bible) and The Message. All versions used by permission.
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