The Authority of Christ

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST

Eph 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."   32 This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

NIV

Now that we have looked at the submissive wife and the loving husband, we need to see this passage as Paul used those two examples to show us Christ and the church. When we leave our father and mother, which are a symbol of this world, or our natural birth into a sinful state and are united with Christ we become one with Jesus. It is Christ Jesus who is our husband as we are His bride and His love for the church was so powerful that He gave himself up even to death to bring us into union with Him. It is through Christ Jesus that our sins are washed by His blood and cleanses us completely making us worthy to be His bride. Christ is also the head of the church which means that Jesus is in authority over us as He has been given all authority. What does that look like in the reality of our daily lives? What does the authority of Jesus consist of us regarding our daily living? Do we just want His authority in spiritual matters and want to make all our own choices regarding all the other areas of our lives? Do we seek His authority as to where we live, what state, city, and even the very neighborhood? Do we seek His authority as to what our career or job is, and where we work? Are all we are looking for is His washing us with water through the word, and being presented to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless? How can we be all that if we continue to make all the other life choices based on our own desires and ambitions? If we leave the ways of the world and are united with Christ then our lives must now be all about submitting to the headship of Jesus for every aspect of our lives, even when He calls us to obey his instructions as to how we are going to serve the rest of the body of Christ. We cannot imagine Jesus would approve of our just coming to church for an hour or two a week to sit and listen to a sermon and then go on our way. Because Jesus sent the Spirit to us with all the gifts at his disposal, He is not going to leave anyone out in the cold. Each one of us has one of His gifts to us for the common good. We all have something to do, as we see in the later portion of this letter when we are told that God prepared in advance for us to do good. We cannot help but think as we give Jesus total authority over every aspect of our lives, we are doing good and we will be doing good. It is all about His authority.