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If you're asking specifically about the comparison language in Ephesians 5 ("as," "just as," "even as," "as unto," "as Christ"), here are the statements in the immediate context (Ephesians 5:21–33).
Ephesians 5:21
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
This introduces the section.
Ephesians 5:22
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Greek: hōs tō Kyriō ("as to the Lord").
Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.
Greek: hōs kai ho Christos ("as also Christ").
Ephesians 5:24
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Two sides of the comparison:
Church → Christ
Wife → Husband
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
Greek: kathōs kai ho Christos ("just as Christ also").
This is the strongest "just as" statement in the passage.
Ephesians 5:28
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
Another comparison.
Ephesians 5:29
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
Again:
Man → his body
Christ → church
Ephesians 5:32
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Paul explicitly states that the marriage discussion is about Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:33
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Another "as."
The comparison structure Paul actually builds
Marriage
Christ-Church
Wife submits to husband
Church submits to Christ
Husband is head of wife
Christ is head of church
Wife submits as unto the Lord
Church subject to Christ
Husband loves wife
Christ loves church
Husband nourishes wife
Christ nourishes church
Husband cherishes wife
Christ cherishes church
Husband loves wife as himself
Christ and church are one body
What is notable is that Paul does not use a single comparison and move on. The entire passage is structured as a sustained analogy between marriage and Christ's relationship to the church.
The strongest explicit comparison markers are:
as unto the Lord (v.22)
as Christ is head (v.23)
as the church is subject unto Christ (v.24)
just as Christ loved the church (v.25)
as their own bodies (v.28)
as the Lord does the church (v.29)
And then Paul closes by saying:
"I speak concerning Christ and the church."
That statement in v.32 confirms that Christ–Church is not merely an illustration attached to marriage; it is the interpretive framework Paul says he has been discussing throughout the section.
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If the question is not "what does Ephesians 5 alone prove?" but rather "what does Ephesians 5 say when read alongside the rest of Scripture?", then the relevant method is to identify the duties Paul attributes to Christ in the passage and ask whether Scripture elsewhere assigns analogous duties to human leaders, parents, husbands, elders, disciplers, or believers generally.
In Ephesians 5, Christ:
Loves the church.
Gives Himself for her.
Sanctifies her.
Cleanses her with the word.
Nourishes her.
Cherishes her.
Presents her glorious, holy, and blameless.
Exercises headship over her.
The question becomes: Are any of these functions uniquely divine, or does Scripture elsewhere call humans to participate in them?
Sanctification
Many assume sanctification is exclusively God's work.
Yet Scripture repeatedly commands believers to pursue it.
"Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy." (Leviticus 20:7)
"Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1)
"Pursue holiness." (Hebrews 12:14)
There is both:
God's sanctifying action.
Human participation in sanctification.
Presenting Others Mature
Paul uses language remarkably similar to Christ's purpose in Ephesians 5.
"Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." (Colossians 1:28)
Paul explicitly says his ministry aims to present others mature/perfect.
That sounds very close to:
"that he might present it to himself a glorious church" (Eph. 5:27)
Cleansing Through the Word
Ephesians 5:26:
"washing of water by the word."
Elsewhere leaders are commanded to teach, correct, rebuke, and train.
"All Scripture ... is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16)
"Admonish one another." (Romans 15:14)
Believers participate in the Word's sanctifying ministry toward one another.
Building Others Up
Christ nourishes and cherishes the church.
Paul commands believers to do similarly.
"Edify one another." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
"Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." (Hebrews 10:24)
"Bear one another's burdens." (Galatians 6:2)
Parental Language
Scripture already gives fathers a formative role.
"Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)
The father is not creating spiritual life.
But he is responsible for formation, instruction, correction, and maturity.
Ministry Leadership
Paul speaks almost in parental terms:
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." (Galatians 4:19)
Notice the language:
Christ formed in you.
Human labor toward that formation.
The divine and human roles are not treated as mutually exclusive.
The Key Distinction
The strongest objection usually rests on this premise:
Christ sanctifies the church.
Therefore husbands cannot have any analogous sanctifying role.
But Scripture often presents realities that are both divine works and human responsibilities.
Examples:
God teaches → parents teach.
God shepherds → elders shepherd.
God loves → husbands love.
God disciplines → fathers discipline.
God sanctifies → believers pursue holiness and help one another toward it.
Christ presents the church mature → Paul seeks to present believers mature.
The real question is not whether sanctification is uniquely God's work in an ultimate sense.
The real question is whether Ephesians 5 intends the husband's imitation of Christ to extend into the formative, nurturing, word-centered cultivation of his wife.
That is the exegetical question.
What can be said from the text itself is that Paul does not merely say:
"Christ loved, therefore husbands should love."
He expands the comparison through Christ's actions:
loved, gave Himself, sanctified, cleansed, nourished, cherished
presented glorious
and then says:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church..."
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Your ability to command authority is directly portional to your readiness to accept responsibility for the outcome.
If you can not or will not be the one to blame you are unfit or not made to bear the weight of authority.
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May 24
Is what the Heavenly Father says and Why He says it two totally different levels of understanding the scriptures and God himself?
How should this change how we come to our knowing God and his written and living word (messiah)?
In my experience it is the motivation that informs the true nature of the expression. Exactly why a court of law cares about motive.
But does our assumption of motivation (faith in the spirit) change how we perceive every expression of actions and words?
Is this what the scripture mean when saying that it is spiritually appraised?
That you cant see the truth of what is right in front of you unless your either rightfully assume Gods motives or perhaps share in the spirit that moves Him. Maybe both are required in full to get the full picture?
But that would make for one long journey of personal growth to gain a full understanding of the truth and nature of God. A very humbling thing to the human reasons capacity to grasp the things of God as its own possession.
Thoughts?
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May 24
Is Man being the glory of God and Woman being the glory of Man enter into your consideration?
How do you think it defines the nature of the relationship between the two?
Does it give any insight into why the scriptures approach the relationships between the two the way it does?
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May 17
What do you say?
May 17
Morality is strength to a man.
To stand before the accusations of the whole world and remain unmoved and unashamed makes him a thing to be feared.
In this, a man can then address the accusations of the rebellious heart of a woman as she seeks authority in others as justifications for her desires over his will.
That is a woman's porn.
The seeking out other heads of authority to give herself to bodily, instead of her husband.
Women are basically throwing their porn in their men's face as the rejection of his authority on a regular basis.
He is just as hurt and angry about her porn as she is about his.
But he is without a means of contextualizing his feelings to address her sins as the modern conceptual reframing is that this is her doing good and rising to her best self.
Sex follows suite in being rejected as it is his exercise of authority over her as expressed in love.
The end us the same. She leaves having lost all respect for her man and often men in general.
Or he takes a stand against her sin, and she either wakes up or he leaves to find someone worth fighting for.
"If you deny me, I will deny you..."
- Jesus
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Israel Seymour retweeted
May 16
I’ve heard many men say, “What turns me on most is seeing her turned on.”
But how many women say the same thing? Absolutely none.
That’s because what turns a woman on is always about her.
That’s why women fall in love with the story, not the man himself.
And that’s why women will always struggle with monogamy more than men.
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Israel Seymour retweeted
A true gosple message should include the call to belonging.
Lordship salvation as some call it is just that. Often misunderstood in ignorance and maligned by many, it is the truth of door and the keys to salvation's point of entry.
Love is the purchase price you said sold to.
You are being bought out of one slavery to sin and selling yourself in freedom to another slavery. A slavery to his love and to righteousness.
If you still belong to yourself, you do not belong to Jesus. You are not of the bride.
Today's watered down gosple message of inviting Jesus leaves people without this necessary truth of change in ownership.
To confess Jesus as lord has lost its meaning for many.
To confess Lordship is to give to another absolute ownership rights to your life. That's the definition.
Becoming a bride was once a confession of lordship. The fact that she no longer belongs to herself, but to a husband, is lost context in today's culture.
Without which understanding of the bride of christ is lost.
The I Do of becoming the bride of Christ is about belonging by your own confession because of your faith in his love.
It it a slavery?
Yes, like the slave by choice who would attach themselves to thir masters household rather then be free to leave. Because of faith in his love and because life with him as part of his household was better than belonging to yourself in this world. This is the truth of the nature of the bride of Christ and from this perfect bride, all brides should understand.
You must die to yourself and belong to become one with him.
All that takes is your confession of Lordship. Followed by your efforts to live as no longer your own. By simply doing as he says. His commands are not some impossible burden and he is understanding with our weaknesses. But he demands lordship in our belonging. If we deny him in this, we are no bride, and he will deny us. He sees your heart behind your words and efforts to honor him, and that is what matters most to every husband.
Do you belong to Jesus, or do you still belong to yourself?
Do you belong to a husband, or are you free from belonging?
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Israel Seymour retweeted
May 9
Christopher Hitchens: ”In 1786, when the United States was barely a country, it was having its sailors taken as slaves by the Barbary states, the states of the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. Tripoli, shores of Tripoli. Ships stopped, its crews carried off into slavery. We estimate 1.5 million European and American slaves taken between 1750 and 1815.
Jefferson and Adams went to their ambassador in London and said, why do you do this to us? The United States has never had a quarrel with the Muslim world of any kind. We weren't in the crusades. We weren't at war with Spain. Why do you do this to our people and our ships? Why do you plunder and enslave our people? The ambassador said very plainly, Mr. Abdul Rahman said, because the Quran gives us permission to do so, because you are infidels, and that's our answer. Jefferson said, well, in that case, I will send a navy which will crush your state, which he did.
Islamic fundamentalism is not created by American democracy. It's a lie to say so. It's a masochistic lie, and it excuses those who are the real criminals, and blames us for the attacks made upon us.”
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"Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh" - Luke 6:21
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Israel Seymour retweeted
A questions for wives who fully submit to their husbands as unto Christ.
Do you have rebellious children?
Do you spend a lot of time yelling or repeating yourself just to get them to submit to you?
Is your husband living in submission to Christ?
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Israel Seymour retweeted
I have a memory very similar to this when I was 5
Kids appreciate this more than you know. Fathers don’t need to buy them tablets & other fancy toys.
Just invest time into them & occasionally flip them for fun 😂
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How to do next level biblical teaching
The bible says this.
This is what it means.
This is why it means what it means.
This is how you can understand why it means what it means.
This is how understanding changes something in you and grows it you.
This is why you should care.
This is what happen on the inside as a result.
This is why you dont need to care about the outside anymore.
This is who you are now and who you are becoming also.
This is where you belong.
These are the higher kingdom purposes in life and one or more will be yours when your ready.
Here is your choice, its the same choice every time.
This is where the truth about you hides from you and how to expose it.
This is the truth about why you always land in the same spot no matter how high you climbed this time. Its OK, kids fall when learning to walk and climb. Sin is no longer the big issue.
Now feel free to forget all that because it all comes down to one thing.
Who do you belong to?
(choose one)
Yourself or Jesus
Everything flows from there if you let it.
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Israel Seymour retweeted
"Men are often afraid to take action in their marriages because they fear their wife's reaction"
Not quite 100%.
Men lack the moral courage because they recognize their own sinfulness. Few ever master there own bodies so few can take a stand against their women sin (As if).
Guys it does not require being perfect first. You could be honest about it all and grow together.
But they dont recognize her's so they hold her as if she is not a big fat sinner like them but gods little angel.
Except in the worst of cases, but then her actions are his fault anyway.
*** Its a false moral authority issue that has men pinned down. ***
While she herself often does not recognize her own sinfulness, being deceived into thinking she knows better so its all justified. Remember Eve?
But the truth is that her stubbornness and rebellion of heart against him as the head and authority in the relationship is a woman's core sin nature from the start.
He may look to another woman's body and want to be her head and rule over her and her body like he was supposed to with his own. Even if he doesn't physically cheat we recognize that just looking to lust is a heart of adultery and betrayal of their bond.
Women feel this hurt and its about as deep as it gets.
But what is ignored is when she as his body looks to another source of authority to justify her actions like belonging to another head. Operating under a forging authority in her actions. Used to justify herself against him in her stubbornness and rebellion of heart. opposing him being head over her as his own body and what he would say and require of her. This is her porn. The adultery of her heart against the relationship.
He feels her porn just as powerfully as she does his. But society has made it so implausible a wrong or such a denial of being just as destructive to a relationship that he cant speak to it or even name it for what it is. Even his feeling of it, if made public would be gas-lighted.
So women are recast as moral angels that are only waiting for a quality man to allow them to shine. And when she fails to do so, well that's just his fault not the expression of her heart of adultery towards the relationship.
Do you feel me brothers?
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Israel Seymour retweeted
Theology never saved anyone.
I will say it again slowly.
T h e o l o g y n e v e r s a v e d a n y o n e.
If i turn out to be wrong. I change.
I want to be wrong. Because i know that i still need to change and embracing being wrong is how that change happens.
That's the whole point.
It was never about what I know.
Never about towing the religious doctrinal party line.
Its about who i have chosen to belong to and my knowing Jesus and being pleasing to Him.
Never loose sight of that truth at the core of your faith.
Man made doctrines are tall grass to get lost in.
Mans creeds make pack hard pathways of fallow ground in the mind.
Both are keeping God from changing what must change until nothing needs to be changed in you.
Live your life because love has become the law of God written upon your heart and you will know truth.
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