Why does Scripture command husbands to love their wives but not wives to love their husbands?
Scripture assigns husbands the command to love because God created Adam with the capacity to love his helpmate, while He created Eve with the capacity to respond. The wife's love is therefore presented as an innate response, not an explicit command, reflecting the created order and the church's response to Christ.
Les explains that Ephesians 5 says wives are to be subject to their own husbands as the church is subject to Christ, but husbands are commanded to love their wives with the same attitude Christ has toward the church—total love to the point that He died for her. He notes that Scripture never commands wives to love their husbands, though Peter tells mothers to teach their daughters how to love a husband. The reason goes back to creation: God created Adam with the ability to love his helpmate, but He created Eve with the ability to respond. Les compares this to salvation: when God saves us and places us into the body, genuine salvation gives us an innate ability to love Him in return.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;