“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV)
In my last blog, I stated the following:
Let’s look at the first use of the word “husband” in the Bible. It’s found in Genesis (surprise, surprise) in the Garden.
I also said that the first occurrence of this word “husband” in the bible was found in Genesis 3:6. If we only look at the English translations of that word, I am accurate, but if you look at the Hebrew word for “husband” used in Genesis 3:6, it is “iysh“.
Like it’s Greek counterpart (see last post), according to Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, it is translated as “man” 1002 times, “men” 210 times, and “husband” 69 times among other words. The first use of this Hebrew word is actually in Genesis 2:23.
Genesis 2:23 (NKJV)
23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
There is another Hebrew word that we translate as “man”. It is the word “adam“.
As near as I can tell, “adam” refers to the individual human creation, while “iysh” refers to the species of humankind.
Why does it matter?
Remember that Adam had just seen EVERY species of animal that God had created – male and female – and he recognized that there was no one like him. All the other species were made up of two – a male and female.
The Hebrew word translated as “woman” literally means “…the biological female of a species in creation, counter-part of the male.” The word translated into “taken” in taken out of Man, literally means “bring an object into one’s possession, either with or without permission of the owner.”
WHAT??? Did you catch that? “…with our without the permission of the owner.” God didn’t consult Adam? Adam didn’t give his input or permission?
Isn’t it ludicrous to think we should have any say so on what God gives us? Yet we, as men, do. You see, when we have a me-centric view of our lives and our marriage, when we have a self-serving attitude of our marriage and our spouse, we think it’s all about our pleasure, our happiness, our freedom. “I work 60 hours a week to put food on the table, so by-golly, I’m going to sit here and watch football (or play Texas Hold’Em, or play video games, etc.) while YOU make dinner, clean the dishes, wash the clothes, get the kids to bed, (insert your favorite chore for your wife to do).
That, my friends, is why the divorce rate IN the church is no different than the divorce rate OUTSIDE of the church. We have self-centered, selfish, pride-filled, hearts and attitudes and self-gratifying expectations that WE want fulfilled.
Listen, our perspective is all wrong. As I continue in this blog series, I’m going to step on our toes more and more. I’ve become passionate about loving my wife as Christ loved the church and exploring every single aspect of it.
As a culture, our understanding of who we are and who our wives are is way out of whack. Our wives were specifically created for us, by Him who made us; by Him who loves us; by Him who knows how to give good gifts to his children. She was not created “second”. She was not created “later”. Genesis 1:27 says “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
God had both of us in mind – male and female – from the beginning… from the word GO.
If we substitute what the Hebrew meanings of the English words in Genesis 2:23, we could paraphrase what Adam said as: “Finally! My counter-part of my created type has been created! God had brought her into His possession from my flesh and bone and given her back to me!” My last blog talked about Eve being Adam’s “help-meet.”
OK, so what does all this rant have anything to do with Ephesians 5:25? Read on, my friend, read on. Paul clearly associates them in the following verses:
Ephesians 5:28-30 (ESV)
28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.
We – together – are one. We – together – complete the creation of God, in His image (Gen 1:27).
Challenge: I challenge every man reading this to view your wife differently today. Pray for God to open your eyes to see her as your counter-part who was uniquely created for you – without your input, without your permission – by a Loving Father who loves you and knows exactly what you need.
Daddy, I pray that you continually keep my perspective changed and renewed. I ask You to daily reveal your creation in my wife that You brought into Your possession – for me – without my knowledge, input, or permission. Help me to understand the truth of who you created her to be and treat her with the utmost, sincere love, honor, care, respect and feeding she requires, deserves and needs – regardless of my personal wants, feelings, or attitudes. Help me to lay my selfish, pride-filled perspective at the altar and take up the perspective of Christ. Teach me to love her in a whole new way every day.
Running After Papa…