Our marriages should produce the mutual joy of both husband and wife, but that’s not the primary or only thing a marriage is for. Submitting, loving, & obeying are all descriptions of what people do when they are filled with the Spirit.

If you only obey God when your spouse obeys Him first, you will never consistently obey God. Getting stuck in that kind of cycle can cause us to convince ourselves that God wants something for us that His Word forbids, denying the truth because it doesn’t fit into our perception of reality. We desperately need the Spirit for unity, harmony, & peace in our marriages.

The true meaning of marriage had been concealed in times past, but now God was saying that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. The original and deeper truth is God’s marriage to His people, and now it's being revealed through Christ’s marriage to the church. The copy is what we see in human marriage between a husband and a wife.

The church submits to Christ in all things because He is worthy of submission based on His life & sacrifice. Husbands – how we lead our wives is supposed to picture this. The church willingly submits to Christ in response to His loving leadership.

While both husbands and wives are responsible for their own obedience to Christ, husbands should be the ones to take the initiative and set the spiritual tone by how they lead. Husbands don't sanctify or cleanse their wives spiritually; this is all meant to point us to Christ. Everything goes back to Him. And marriage is intended to point us to our Redeemer & Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our marriages should produce the mutual joy of both husband and wife, but that’s not the primary or only thing a marriage is for. Submitting, loving, & obeying are all descriptions of what people do when they are filled with the Spirit.

If you only obey God when your spouse obeys Him first, you will never consistently obey God. Getting stuck in that kind of cycle can cause us to convince ourselves that God wants something for us that His Word forbids, denying the truth because it doesn’t fit into our perception of reality. We desperately need the Spirit for unity, harmony, & peace in our marriages.

The true meaning of marriage had been concealed in times past, but now God was saying that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. The original and deeper truth is God’s marriage to His people, and now it's being revealed through Christ’s marriage to the church. The copy is what we see in human marriage between a husband and a wife.

The church submits to Christ in all things because He is worthy of submission based on His life & sacrifice. Husbands – how we lead our wives is supposed to picture this. The church willingly submits to Christ in response to His loving leadership.

While both husbands and wives are responsible for their own obedience to Christ, husbands should be the ones to take the initiative and set the spiritual tone by how they lead. Husbands don't sanctify or cleanse their wives spiritually; this is all meant to point us to Christ. Everything goes back to Him. And marriage is intended to point us to our Redeemer & Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our marriages should produce the mutual joy of both husband and wife, but that’s not the primary or only thing a marriage is for. Submitting, loving, & obeying are all descriptions of what people do when they are filled with the Spirit.

If you only obey God when your spouse obeys Him first, you will never consistently obey God. Getting stuck in that kind of cycle can cause us to convince ourselves that God wants something for us that His Word forbids, denying the truth because it doesn’t fit into our perception of reality. We desperately need the Spirit for unity, harmony, & peace in our marriages.

The true meaning of marriage had been concealed in times past, but now God was saying that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. The original and deeper truth is God’s marriage to His people, and now it's being revealed through Christ’s marriage to the church. The copy is what we see in human marriage between a husband and a wife.

The church submits to Christ in all things because He is worthy of submission based on His life & sacrifice. Husbands – how we lead our wives is supposed to picture this. The church willingly submits to Christ in response to His loving leadership.

While both husbands and wives are responsible for their own obedience to Christ, husbands should be the ones to take the initiative and set the spiritual tone by how they lead. Husbands don't sanctify or cleanse their wives spiritually; this is all meant to point us to Christ. Everything goes back to Him. And marriage is intended to point us to our Redeemer & Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christians and non-Christians alike are confused about what love is, what commitment is, about gender, sexual attraction, marriage, headship, submission, and what a godly family is supposed to look like. Satan would love to cause the crumbling of the foundation of God’s purpose & plan for marriage. The health of our marriages today affects generations to come. The problem is not with God or the institution of marriage – the problem lies with us because we would often rather be ruled by our feelings than the truth of Scripture. We need to read what God says about marriage and let that settle the inward & outward debates of how marriage should work.

- The Bible determines how we interact with our spouses, not the culture, history, psychology, our circle of friends, & not our feelings.

Marriage is rooted in covenant keeping. It is designed to be a picture of something deeper: Christ & the church [v32]. Christ is the ultimate covenant-keeper, and marriage is a picture of this.

We don’t need to deny mutual submission in order to affirm the importance of the unique roles of husband and wife in marriage. Mutual submission & mutual servanthood do not cancel out the reality of leadership.

Submission and love flow out of the finished work of Christ. Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father & loved His bride - the church - enough to die for her. The things husbands & wives are called to do in marriage are things that Jesus has already done for believers!

There is hope for hurting marriages because Christ still loves His church. He has not given up on her, and so we know He has not given up on our marriages either. Whether you are called to willingly submit to or sacrificially love your spouse, if you are in Christ you are capable of doing it because of God's Spirit that’s within you.

Christians and non-Christians alike are confused about what love is, what commitment is, about gender, sexual attraction, marriage, headship, submission, and what a godly family is supposed to look like. Satan would love to cause the crumbling of the foundation of God’s purpose & plan for marriage. The health of our marriages today affects generations to come. The problem is not with God or the institution of marriage – the problem lies with us because we would often rather be ruled by our feelings than the truth of Scripture. We need to read what God says about marriage and let that settle the inward & outward debates of how marriage should work.

- The Bible determines how we interact with our spouses, not the culture, history, psychology, our circle of friends, & not our feelings.

Marriage is rooted in covenant keeping. It is designed to be a picture of something deeper: Christ & the church [v32]. Christ is the ultimate covenant-keeper, and marriage is a picture of this.

We don’t need to deny mutual submission in order to affirm the importance of the unique roles of husband and wife in marriage. Mutual submission & mutual servanthood do not cancel out the reality of leadership.

Submission and love flow out of the finished work of Christ. Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father & loved His bride - the church - enough to die for her. The things husbands & wives are called to do in marriage are things that Jesus has already done for believers!

There is hope for hurting marriages because Christ still loves His church. He has not given up on her, and so we know He has not given up on our marriages either. Whether you are called to willingly submit to or sacrificially love your spouse, if you are in Christ you are capable of doing it because of God's Spirit that’s within you.

Christians and non-Christians alike are confused about what love is, what commitment is, about gender, sexual attraction, marriage, headship, submission, and what a godly family is supposed to look like. Satan would love to cause the crumbling of the foundation of God’s purpose & plan for marriage. The health of our marriages today affects generations to come. The problem is not with God or the institution of marriage – the problem lies with us because we would often rather be ruled by our feelings than the truth of Scripture. We need to read what God says about marriage and let that settle the inward & outward debates of how marriage should work.

- The Bible determines how we interact with our spouses, not the culture, history, psychology, our circle of friends, & not our feelings.

Marriage is rooted in covenant keeping. It is designed to be a picture of something deeper: Christ & the church [v32]. Christ is the ultimate covenant-keeper, and marriage is a picture of this.

We don’t need to deny mutual submission in order to affirm the importance of the unique roles of husband and wife in marriage. Mutual submission & mutual servanthood do not cancel out the reality of leadership.

Submission and love flow out of the finished work of Christ. Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father & loved His bride - the church - enough to die for her. The things husbands & wives are called to do in marriage are things that Jesus has already done for believers!

There is hope for hurting marriages because Christ still loves His church. He has not given up on her, and so we know He has not given up on our marriages either. Whether you are called to willingly submit to or sacrificially love your spouse, if you are in Christ you are capable of doing it because of God's Spirit that’s within you.

Circumspect (KJV word) = “careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences”. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise…” Paul says. We should work at being so connected with Jesus Christ that our relationship with Him touches & shapes every step that we take. The time that could slip away into uselessness we scoop up and rescue in order to use for good. Walking in wisdom means we don’t regularly waste away our time. We live in dark days, and so we must passionately shine our light while we can.

Our new life in Christ affects our relationships with other people:

- Eph. 2:11-22 – our relationships with one another are now different

- Eph. 5:22-33 – our relationships with our spouses are different

- Eph. 6:1-4 – our relationships with our kids are different

- Eph. 6:5-9 – our relationships in the workplace are now different

- Eph. 6:10-24 – our relationship with the world is now different

Only through Christ can we have healthy relationships.

The word that the ESV translates “debauchery” [v.18] is a broader term that encompasses many aspects of unholy living, including but not limited to sexual immorality, drunkenness, crude talk, and generally out-of-control behavior (Timothy & Peter use the word “riotous”). Paul’s instructions about alcohol appear in a conversation about how being "in Christ" changes everything, including our relationships with others. It’s a continuation of God’s instruction to the church on one-anothering.

The wise person will not be filled with alcohol or sexual immorality or idolatry, because you cannot be filled with the Spirit if you are already full of those things. It is never God’s will for a Christian to be drunk. The only way for Christ to increase is for us to decrease.

Submit means “to arrange under”. We submit to other people because there is a biblical order to godly authority; we submit to others because Christ is the ultimate authority over our lives. Husbands & employers & parents don’t hold places of authority to subjugate those under them, they are in places of authority because God put them there and so God can humble them to go serve in love. At the core, any submission is a result of “reverence for Christ” [v.21]. If we don't revere (respect, submit to) the authority of Jesus, we will not submit to any earthly authority either, which is an evidence of how much (or how little) we are filled with the Spirit.

Circumspect (KJV word) = “careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences”. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise…” Paul says. We should work at being so connected with Jesus Christ that our relationship with Him touches & shapes every step that we take. The time that could slip away into uselessness we scoop up and rescue in order to use for good. Walking in wisdom means we don’t regularly waste away our time. We live in dark days, and so we must passionately shine our light while we can.

Our new life in Christ affects our relationships with other people:

- Eph. 2:11-22 – our relationships with one another are now different

- Eph. 5:22-33 – our relationships with our spouses are different

- Eph. 6:1-4 – our relationships with our kids are different

- Eph. 6:5-9 – our relationships in the workplace are now different

- Eph. 6:10-24 – our relationship with the world is now different

Only through Christ can we have healthy relationships.

The word that the ESV translates “debauchery” [v.18] is a broader term that encompasses many aspects of unholy living, including but not limited to sexual immorality, drunkenness, crude talk, and generally out-of-control behavior (Timothy & Peter use the word “riotous”). Paul’s instructions about alcohol appear in a conversation about how being "in Christ" changes everything, including our relationships with others. It’s a continuation of God’s instruction to the church on one-anothering.

The wise person will not be filled with alcohol or sexual immorality or idolatry, because you cannot be filled with the Spirit if you are already full of those things. It is never God’s will for a Christian to be drunk. The only way for Christ to increase is for us to decrease.

Submit means “to arrange under”. We submit to other people because there is a biblical order to godly authority; we submit to others because Christ is the ultimate authority over our lives. Husbands & employers & parents don’t hold places of authority to subjugate those under them, they are in places of authority because God put them there and so God can humble them to go serve in love. At the core, any submission is a result of “reverence for Christ” [v.21]. If we don't revere (respect, submit to) the authority of Jesus, we will not submit to any earthly authority either, which is an evidence of how much (or how little) we are filled with the Spirit.

Circumspect (KJV word) = “careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences”. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise…” Paul says. We should work at being so connected with Jesus Christ that our relationship with Him touches & shapes every step that we take. The time that could slip away into uselessness we scoop up and rescue in order to use for good. Walking in wisdom means we don’t regularly waste away our time. We live in dark days, and so we must passionately shine our light while we can.

Our new life in Christ affects our relationships with other people:

- Eph. 2:11-22 – our relationships with one another are now different

- Eph. 5:22-33 – our relationships with our spouses are different

- Eph. 6:1-4 – our relationships with our kids are different

- Eph. 6:5-9 – our relationships in the workplace are now different

- Eph. 6:10-24 – our relationship with the world is now different

Only through Christ can we have healthy relationships.

The word that the ESV translates “debauchery” [v.18] is a broader term that encompasses many aspects of unholy living, including but not limited to sexual immorality, drunkenness, crude talk, and generally out-of-control behavior (Timothy & Peter use the word “riotous”). Paul’s instructions about alcohol appear in a conversation about how being "in Christ" changes everything, including our relationships with others. It’s a continuation of God’s instruction to the church on one-anothering.

The wise person will not be filled with alcohol or sexual immorality or idolatry, because you cannot be filled with the Spirit if you are already full of those things. It is never God’s will for a Christian to be drunk. The only way for Christ to increase is for us to decrease.

Submit means “to arrange under”. We submit to other people because there is a biblical order to godly authority; we submit to others because Christ is the ultimate authority over our lives. Husbands & employers & parents don’t hold places of authority to subjugate those under them, they are in places of authority because God put them there and so God can humble them to go serve in love. At the core, any submission is a result of “reverence for Christ” [v.21]. If we don't revere (respect, submit to) the authority of Jesus, we will not submit to any earthly authority either, which is an evidence of how much (or how little) we are filled with the Spirit.

Every one of us is born into darkness due to a fatal sin problem, but we believe a relationship with Jesus cures every person who believes. Salvation in Christ alone is the cure. So Paul now calls believers to become who they are - light in the Lord. Because Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us, we are expected to live differently.

The church is commanded to hold each other accountable and discipline each other out of and away from sexual sin [1 Cor. 5]. If a person calls themselves a brother or sister and continues in blatant and open immorality, the church has to take action. And when action is taken, it is to be done with love as the motivation and reconciliation as the goal, otherwise we're doing it wrong.

To pursue the selfish and sinful desires of our hearts rather than God's will is idolatry.

Are the desires of your heart leading towards Jesus, or away from Him?

People who are walking in the light will not speak the way people of the world speak. Instead of being known for corrupt speech, Christians should be known for giving thanks.

You display the fruit of walking in light by not participating in the works of darkness.

There is transforming power in the light of Christ. Don’t fear the light of truth – run into it. With it comes healing, restoration, forgiveness, and freedom!