It is easy for a debate about marriage to become abstract. Scripture brings it back to the people who have to live it. It tells a husband how to treat his wife, tells her how to answer him, and puts both of them under God. Those duties matter before anyone asks what is permitted.
Ephesians 5 is a good place to start. Paul moves from Genesis to Christ and the church, then gives distinct instructions to the husband and the wife. His picture of the body tells us how they should treat each other, but it should not be turned into a shortcut for deciding how many marriages a man may have.
Ephesians 5 · Genesis 2 · 1 Corinthians 11
The head and the body
Paul quotes the one-flesh sentence from Eden and then speaks about Christ and the church. This study looks at what he asks from the husband, what he asks from the wife, and what the analogy does not establish. Every passage is linked.
Read the study →
Studies still being written
- Won without a word · 1 Peter 3 and what her conduct can do
- The wise woman and the foolish one · the Proverbs household
- Closing the door · humility, hearing God, and the enemy’s opening
Before reading about headship or submission, take a minute with Exodus 21:10. It names three things a wife is still owed when her husband marries another woman and tells him what happens if he withholds them.