Why are husbands told to love their wives?
Husbands are told to love their wives because they are to mirror Christ's total, sacrificial love for the church—so much that He died for her. This also traces to creation, where God gave Adam the ability to love his helpmate, while Eve was made to respond, just as believers respond to Christ.
Les explains that Ephesians 5 calls wives to be subject to their husbands as the church is subject to Christ, but husbands are not to lose the connotation: they are to have the same attitude toward their wife that Christ has toward the church. Christ's love is total love, to the point that He died for her. Les asks how many American husbands today would die for their wives, calling it a real test, and says that is how much husbands are to love her. Verse 25 commands, "Husbands, love your wives." Les notes Scripture never tells wives to love their husbands, though Peter tells mothers to teach daughters how to love a husband. The reason goes back to creation: God created Adam with the ability to love his helpmate, and He created in Eve an ability to respond. That pictures what God does with us: when He saves us and places us into the body, if 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;