Ephesians 5:32-33

This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

(v32, NIV)

What a great mystery. How the heck do two people become one flesh? Well, what Paul has been talking about on a whole is quite a mystery as well. Christ's sacrificial love for his bride, the church, is quite a mystery that we continue to learn more and more of as we grow in the Lord. This relationship between Christ and the church is related to the bond between a husband and wife; what an interesting mystery this is. As husbands and wives, we are to illustrate the relationship between Christ and his church in our marriage. This is quite a responsibility to live up to. Not that I would know by experience.

I think this mystery Paul is referring to is the passage he references in verse 31.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

(Genesis 2:24, NIV)

How the heck do two people become one flesh? They don't physically bond and become connected the same way Siamese twins are connected. But Paul is speaking about Christ and the church. In the New Testament, there are a few references to how the church makes up the body of Christ with Christ being the head. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how the body and its many members in the context of spiritual gifts. An online search has showed me a few passages in Colossians. Regardless, Christ is the head, and we, the church, are the body and one flesh with Christ in this profound mystery. The body submits to the will of the head, and the head controls the whole body. What kind of body would it be if each part did its own thing? It would be difficult for you to do anything if it was your body. I'm sure there are illnesses that result in or have the symptoms of the loss of control of your body.

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

(v33, NIV)

Paul brings it back to the husband and the wife summing up what he has said. Husbands must love their wives as he loves himself, trying to imitate this love Christ has for the church. The role of the wife is to respect and submit to her husband. I've heard from other brothers I look up to and respect talk about relationships between men and women. Apparently, they tell me that women seek to be loved, and men seek to be respected. Voddie Baucham echoes the same idea in his sermons. He mentions how God instructs men to love their wives and wives are to submit to their husbands. He notes that God created man and woman, and he designed them to be wired a certain way. So, God made women in such a way that they respond to love, and then he instructs men to love their wives. Similarly, God made men in such a way that they respond to respect, and he instructs women to respect their husbands. It's really something, isn't it?

The word "also" is present in the NIV. This doesn't really bring anything new, but it relates back again to Christ and the church. Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her. Men also must love their wives in the same way.