What happens when a husband treats his wife the way Christ treats the church?
When a husband treats his wife as Christ treats the church, he loves her with total, self-sacrificial love—even to death. This different attitude prevents divorce problems, so no lawyer needs to get involved, because the husband mirrors Christ's love for His body.
Les teaches from Ephesians 5 that husbands are to have the same attitude toward their wives that Christ has toward the church. If a husband has that kind of attitude, no lawyer will ever have to touch him, and there will be no divorce problem, because there is a whole different attitude when we treat our wives as Christ treats the church. That love is total love to the point that Christ died for her. Les often wonders how many American husbands today would die for their wives. Scripture commands husbands to love their wives, though it never commands wives to love their husbands. This goes back to creation: God created Adam with the ability to love his helpmate, but He created Eve with an ability to respond. Likewise, when God saves us and places us into the body, if our salvation is genuine, we have an innate ability to love Him in return.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;