Quote for the Day
The long-suffering of God is incomprehensible to mere mortals, who procrastinate in repenting and delay in coming to God in saving faith. Steven Lawson
Be healed!
Ephesians 5:25
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 5:25. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Paul now turns to the husband’s responsibility in marriage relationships.
While husbands are to be subject to their wives as stated in verse 22, they have the additional requirement of loving their wives as Christ loved the church. As we read this and the subsequent verses, Paul switches rapidly between church, Christ, wives, and husbands so that it is at times difficult to tell which is the illustration and which is the subject. In Paul’s mind the relationship between marriage and the church goes both ways, each illustrating the other.
The word for love that Paul uses here is the verb form of agape. We might have expected that he would use the word “eros” to describe marital love. This word refers to passionate. sexual love. He could have used phileo which means affection between family members or friends.
PAUL uses the word which describes the love that God has for his people. Husbands are to love their wives in exactly the same way that Christ loves the church.
Agape love is love that flows from the lover to the loved regardless of their response. It is love that is entirely selfless and interested only in the health, prosperity, and well-being of the person loved. Agape love never ends and never gives up.
The most poignant example of agape love, apart from Christ, is the Old Testament prophet Hosea. This man was directed by God to marry a prostitute named Gomer. After sometime, she returned to her old ways and ultimately became a slave. When Hosea saw this, he bought her back (literally redeemed her) so that she could be his wife again.
This is an illustration of God’s love for his people and the expectation of the love that husbands must have for their wives .
Because God’s love is unconditional, the love that a husband has for his wife must also be unconditional. Even if a wife refuses to submit to him or to God, a husband must love his wife.
Paul uses the specific example of Christ’s giving of himself for the church. Christ sacrificed himself, handing himself over to be crucified in order for sinful people to be redeemed and reconciled to the Father.
Husbands, then, must lay down their lives for their wives. This is not a physical act of suicide, but a metaphor that says every selfish ambition a man might have is put to death for the sake of loving his wife.
There is no lording it over a submissive wife in this relationship. A man who has died to self for the sake of his wife will have no need or desire to reign as a despot.
If the wife should be unfaithful, then both Christ and Hosea point to a love that keeps on seeking reconciliation regardless of the cost.
Key points in this verse:
- The love of a husband for his wife is meant to be identical to the love of Christ for the church
- Hosea’s love is an example of God’s love for the church and therefore of a christian husband’s love for his wife.
- Husbands must never give up on their wives
Reflection on 1 Corinthians 9:13-27
Scripture
Preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!
Observation
Those who work in the Temple receive their meals from the offerings and sacrifices. In the same way, those who preach should be supported by those who benefit from it. Paul never claimed these rights because he was compelled by Christ to preach the gospel.
If he was doing it on his own initiative, he would expect payment. This opportunity to preach is its own reward.
Paul is a free man, but he became a slave to all in order to share the gospel.
In a race, everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. Athletes are disciplined in their training. So Paul disciplines his body like an athlete, in order to not fall short in his ministry.
Application
When good calls a person to a ministry, it becomes an obsession that they just can’t help but do it. Whether it is evangelism, healing, pastoral ministry, worship leading, or children’s ministry, you just do it because God compels you.
That is not to say that it is forced. No, it is love for God and for people that makes us want to do the ministry.
If I we’re not allowed to preach, I think I would die of frustration, unless God told me to stop. The word is inside you and it has to get out.
Somebody once said that if you find a job that is your passion, you will never have to go to work again. God plants a passion in all of His people, and it is our job to turn that passion into serving Him.
Prayer
Lord, please help me to discover the passions, gifts, and callings that you have placed in me. Amen.
Broken Things
Jo Nova: South Pole has coldest winter ever, but it’s just “a blip”
Jo Nova points out something that the climate establishment, including the green media, doesn’t want you to hear.
South Pole has coldest winter ever, but it’s just “a blip”
The sun has just risen on South Pole after the coldest six month period on record since 1956. The last winter there was suddenly 2.2 degrees Celsius colder than the average for the last 30 years.
Remember when Polar Amplification meant Antarctica was melting?
…
Thanks to NoTricksZone
South Pole Sees Record Cold Winter, Smashing 1976 Record …“Chill Was Exceptional”
Jason Samenow and Kasha Patel, Washington Post
The chill was exceptional, even for the coldest location on the planet.
The average temperature at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station between April and September, a frigid minus-78 degrees (minus-61 Celsius), was the coldest on record, dating back to 1957. This was 4.5 degrees lower than the most recent 30-year average at this remote station, which is operated by United States Antarctic Program and administered by the National Science Foundation.
One hot weekend in Miami is Climate change but the coldest six months in Antarctic records is a blip:
While impressive and unexpected, scientists characterized this record as a mere blip and curiosity as both Antarctica and the planet continue to rapidly warm amid escalating extreme weather.
Antarctica has been cooling for a thousand years (or maybe 2,000). That’s a long blip.
Cooling for a thousand years.
Climate change has been making Antarctic summers cooler too. Blips are everywhere.
Surface Air temperature over East Antarctica (presumably in summer) from Hsu et al 2021.
And the ocean around Antarctica is cooler too:
The extreme cold over Antarctica helped push sea ice levels surrounding the continent to their fifth-highest level on record in August, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
As usual, scientists didn’t predict the record cold — but they knew why it happened:
“Basically, the winds in the polar stratosphere have been stronger than normal, which is associated with shifting the jet stream toward the pole,” Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at NOAA, wrote in a message. “This keeps the cold air locked up over much of Antarctica.”
No climate story is complete without the cult litany:
Scientists stressed that the record cold over the South Pole in no way refutes or lessens the seriousness of global warming. Antarctica is notorious for its wild swings in weather and climate, which can run counter to global trends.
At minus 60C even the planes don’t go:
Matthew Lazzara, Antarctic scientist said “At these temperatures, it is difficult to operate aircraft,” he wrote in an email. “[B]etween -50°C and -58°C you put the aircraft at risk with the hydraulics freezing up or fuel turning into a jelly.”
Click here to read the full article
Quote for the Day
The purpose of God in creating mankind was simply to showcase His own greatness for His own glory. The entire universe is simply a means for God to display His own grandeur. Steven Lawson
Hope through endurance
