Ephesians 5:25-31 – The Glory of God in Man

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 5:25-31, Genesis 1-3, 1 Timothy 2:13, 1 Peter 3:7, Job 1:5, Hosea 3

The Divine Pattern of Headship

This past Lord’s Day I preached the second part of our series on Biblical Sexuality, Man, Woman, Marriage, and the Church. Having looked last week at the creation order and the wife’s calling to glad submission, we turned this week to the husband’s high and holy responsibility.

From the very beginning of Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul roots everything in creation and redemption. I emphasized that the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). This is not cultural. This is not negotiable. It is creational (Adam was formed first, then Eve – Genesis 2; 1 Timothy 2:13) and it is eternal. Marriage is a living parable of the gospel. The husband stands in the home as a picture of Christ the Head; the wife stands as a picture of the church in submission. To reject this order is to reject the gospel pattern itself. If we will not have Christ as Head, we cannot have Him as Savior.

The Call to Sacrificial, Christ-like Leadership

Husbands are not commanded to “share leadership equally as partners.” We are commanded: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).

This love is decisive and active. It means I must lead my home spiritually. I must speak the Word daily, set the direction, take responsibility for the spiritual temperature of the house, cover my wife’s sins, wash her with the Word, protect her from danger, and present her holy and blameless before God. She is the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7), not inferior in worth, but precious and in need of the strong covering God designed me to provide.

I walked through several examples: Job’s daily priestly leadership, Hosea’s costly redemption of his unfaithful wife, Luther’s rescue and cherishing of Katharina, and the tragic consequences when headship is abandoned (Aaron and the golden calf, Dinah, David’s household).

How We Have Failed – And the Gospel Hope

I was honest about our failures. Wives often withhold respect, nag, use sex as leverage, or undermine their husband’s leadership in front of the children. Men often stay silent, retreat into passivity, or fail to open the Bible and pray with their families. We repeat the Fall in our homes every single day.

Yet the hope is powerful: Christ loved the church while we were still rebels. He did not wait for us to become lovely. While we hated His authority, He gave Himself up for us. That is the love I am called to imitate, even when my leadership is met with resistance.

Conclusion

Men, this is our glory: to stand as walls, to love sacrificially, to lead courageously, and to cover our households even when it costs us everything. Women, your glory shines brightest under godly headship, secure and free to be the helpers God created you to be.

Let us reject the egalitarian heresy of our age and return to the beautiful, creational pattern of Christ and His church. Our homes must once again become little churches that display the gospel to a watching world.

I am praying that God would raise up a generation of faithful men and glad-hearted women in our congregation for His glory. Next week we will continue digging deeper into this glorious truth.

If you missed the sermon, I encourage you to listen. May the Lord strengthen us all to walk in His good design.

In Christ,
Brandon Charbonneau