Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 34:4 (Autumn 2020)
Article: A Biblical Model For Marriage
Author: Amy Bost Henegar

PP 34:4 (Autumn 2020) p. 4

A Biblical Model For Marriage

Amy Bost Henegar

Amy Bost Henegar is married to Matt. They live with their five children just outside of New York City. She has been a minister for the Manhattan Church of Christ in New York City since 2001, but began ministry as a hospital chaplain in Los Angeles. She holds a Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary, is a leader of the Community of Women Ministers, and is on the board of Eleven28 Ministries. She loves preaching, teaching, leading retreats and pastoral coaching with individuals and groups. Find her online at AmyBostHenegar.com.

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Eph 5:21–33 NRSV)

When a person searches the Scriptures for instructions regarding Christian marriage, they often find their way to Eph 5:22–33. These verses have been read in our wedding ceremonies, embroidered onto beautiful wall hangings for our homes, and have ultimately shaped the climate and the character of generations of Christian marriages. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to read these words without looking at the greater context in which they were spoken. If we do look at the context, we will come to understand that the apostle Paul is doing something far different from what we might think. He is not discussing gender roles within a family. He is not delineating a biblical blueprint for marriage. He is not doing what we think he is doing, but if we look closely, we just might discover what he is trying to do in this passage. And w...