Brainstorm about Christ giving Himself

[Anonymous]

I'm not making a point, I am seeking insights from others on this passage and topic.
Eph 5:25-27

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Normally when we think of Jesus giving Himself for the church, we think of His sacrifice. But, did He sacrifice Himself for the church or for sinners in general? Did He give Himself for the church as a sacrifice or did He give Himself as a head and authority with protection and provision for the church? Possible ramifications are numerous as it relates to husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church. Are men expected to love their wives by sacrificing their goals and God's leadership to make their wives happy?

I am not linguistically qualified to look into the language used, but I am ignorant enough to need to ask questions. Asking and learning is the cure for ignorance. Help me find a cure. :lol:

 

[Maddog]

Hello Pastor Whitten, I have a very limited knowledge of Greek and so will attempt a short explanation of what I understand. I have read this many times and then found that the word "word" is the Greek "rhema" which I understand to be a spoken word. (Please Dr. Keith correct me if I have the wrong understanding.) So my thought is this, as husbands we should speak life-giving, life-washing words to our brides in an effort to bring them to a point of being cleansed as though it were washing like water removing the ideas of the world. I try to picture the words of Christ bringing the Church to a point of having washed away the filth of the ideas of the world. Of course that presumes we are speaking the RIGHT words. What then are the words of Jesus that change the worldly ideas into Godly ideas? Perhaps we start with Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God?
Maddog

 

[steve]

two separate actions,
1) he gave his body as a living sacrifice so that sinners could become his church.
2) washing her with the water of the word is an ongoing action that he is presently doing

i lay down my life (my bachelorhood, my freedom) on the altar when i committed myself to being the husband of my wife. the action of washing her with the water of the word is a concept that we are still growing into and i do not feel that we have the precise definition of it as of yet.

Yeshua did not lay his life down for our happiness or so that we might be more comfortable. sometimes his "washings" seem a little more like scrubbings with a brillo pad, but i am sure that he knows exactly what i need.

 

[Anonymous]

These are the standard answers. Let's look a little deeper into the concept or outside the conventional box, please.

 

[steve]

Are men expected to love their wives by sacrificing their goals and God's leadership to make their wives happy?

please pardon my simplicity, but it seemed like a question that could only be answered "yes" or "no".