This is one of the great passages in the New Testament concerning marriage. The apostle Paul appeals to the love that Jesus has for his church as an analogue for the love between husbands and wives. The comparison is as deep as it is precious. And as much as we can learn from this passage about marriage it is also important that we give close consideration to what we learn about Christ’s love for his church: “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (vs. 32).

In her famous sonnet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning asked, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” In our cynical world, such an unvarnished expression of love seems quaint at best. Yet, however much anger, violence, and indifference show themselves in the world today, Christ’s love for his church remains unmoved and un-moveable. Paul challenges husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church precisely because such love is fathomless.

The church is so dear to Jesus that he died to save her and make her holy. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

The church has a glorious future because she has a gloriously loving Savior and Lord.