MAY 19, 2023 – CO-HEIRS

READ: Eph. 5:22-33.

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. -1 Pet. 3:7

Men are also addressed regarding their relationship within marriage. It is necessary for them to follow God’s standard as well. This comes with a number of exhortations: first of all, they must show understanding towards their wife in their interactions with her. Not in submission as in the relationship of the wife to the husband, but they must truly and deeply know her and take her feelings into account. 

A man can easily have an external relationship, focused on external contact, but God asks for more. A man must attentively delve into the woman with whom he is living in marriage. If this is the case, then that marriage receives the depth of a marriage in the Lord with true, giving love, which is spoken of in Eph. 5.

Secondly, the men are told: honor your wife and show her respect. While the wife, as the man’s helper, must follow him as head, the man must not abuse his position. He must not only love her as himself, but also honor her as the weaker vessel, and respect her for who she is in the eyes of the Lord, for she is equal to the man. They both receive grace as God’s children and are co-heirs of eternal life. They are both redeemed by Christ, and both have a prospect of the inheritance that is prepared for them. 

If a man begins to feel and behave as if he is superior, it is sin in the eyes of the Lord. The mutual peace is disturbed, and that has consequences for prayers, which is disrupted and left unanswered until there is repentance. A serious, but beneficial warning!

What are ‘conscious’ sins without repentance?

Singing: Ps. 66:8