Divorce rates for 1st marriages: 41%
Divorce rates for 2nd marriages: 61%
Divorce rates for 3rd marriages: 73%

Average age of 1st marriages that end in divorce: 8 years

v.22 (ESV): “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”
v.22 (NA28): “Wives, to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”

v.15 – “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.”

1. You make the best use of your time
v.16 – “…making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

2. You live your life according to the will of God
v.17 – “Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

3. You are to be filled with the Spirit
v.18 – “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”

What is the Spirit-filled person like?

a. The Spirit-filled life is a life full of worship
v.19 – “…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”

b. The Spirit-filled life is a life full of gratitude
v.20 – “…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

c. The Spirit-filled life is a life full of mutual submission
v.21 – “…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

vs.18, 21-22 – “Be filled with the Spirit… …submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, wives, to your own husbands as to the Lord.”

“Submit,” Gk. ὑποτασσόμενοι, middle voice (see Eph. 1:4)

vs.23-24 – “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

Truth: You cannot live out the God-given role of ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ if you are not born again.

What kind of love is a husband to have for his wife?

a. A Sacrificial Love
v.25 – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…”

b. A Purifying Love
vs.26-27 – “…that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

c. A Nurturing Love
vs.29-30 – “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.”

“nourish,” Gk. ἐκτρέφω (ektrephō), “to promote health and strength”
“cherish,” Gk. θάλπω (thalpō), “to impart warmth” (see 1 Th. 2:7)

d. An Everlasting Love
v.31 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

v.32 – “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

DAVE AND DIANA REGIS

v.33 – “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Q: “How important is love and respect to the marriage in your own experience and in your experience with dealing with other couples?”
Q: “Is this only for couples ‘in trouble,’ or is this for healthy couples as well?”
Q: “What are some practical ways a wife can respect her husband?”
Q: “What are some practical ways a husband can love his wife?”
Q: “What can couples get out of the current class you are leading?”