LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 312

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
love—which mirrors the love of God—is that it is not motivated
by the object of affection (cf. Deut 7:6–9; Rom 5:6–8). Rather, it is
a self-sacrificial act of the will (Eph 5:28, “husbands should love
their wives”), the nature of which Paul eloquently unfolds for all
Christians in 1 Corinthians 13 (see also John 13:34–35).
Paul points to Christ as the most profound example of agapé
love. Christ showed his love for the church by willingly giving
himself up on the cross for her (Rom 5:6–9), despite her faults and
blemishes. Indeed, He did this “so that he might present [her] to
himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that
she might be without blemish” (Eph 5:27). The Lord Jesus models
for the husband the kind of relationship he seeks to have and enjoy
with his wife. The husband gives himself in selfless commitment
to his wife for her well-being and not for any personal gain. Such
love nourishes and cherishes the person with whom he has been
made one (Eph 5:29). In a word, he should love her just as Christ
loved the church.
When a husband exercises his headship with agapé love after
the example of Christ, he will do so as one “gentle and lowly in
heart.” We recognize that Christ, as the head of the church, calls
the church to follow Him. But unlike some of His contemporaries
who laid burdens on others impossible to bear, Jesus is the kind of
Lord or Leader whose “yoke” is easy and light. We remember well
His words: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”
(Mt 11:29). Christians therefore sing, “Christ be my leader by night
and by day, Safe through the darkness, for He is the way. Gladly
I follow, my future His care, Darkness is daylight when Jesus is
there.”34
Paul goes on to say that the husband should love his wife as his
own body, just as Christ loves the church as His own body. Paul
even says, by quoting Gen 2:24, that Christ and the church become
one flesh. In like manner, by loving his wife, the husband loves
himself, his own flesh. Paul then concludes: “let each one of you
love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her
husband” (Eph 5:33).
1 Corinthians 7
The “one flesh” unity receives tangible expression in the sexual
relationship of husband and wife, a subject Paul expressly treats
in 1 Corinthians 7. Although the apostle seems to be addressing
problems not in every respect like ours today,35 his counsel remains
as pertinent as ever:
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality,
each man should have his own wife and each woman
her own husband. The husband should give to his
wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife her
husband. For the wife does not have authority over
her own body, but the husband does. Likewise
the husband does not have authority over his own
body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another,
except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that
you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come
together again, so that Satan may not tempt you
because of your lack of self-control (1 Cor 7:2–5).
In the backdrop of this advice lies Paul’s deep concern about the sexual immorality taking place among
the Corinthians—sexual crudities of a kind “not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife”
(1 Cor 5:1). Some men consorted with prostitutes and, what was
even worse, regarded their conduct as morally of no consequence.
They claimed to be Christians but acted as if the human body is
unimportant—as if to say that what you do with your own body

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is your own business. Some most likely said that the Christian life
is, after all, about the inner soul, not the body. Others, no doubt,
argued that when it comes right down to it, the body is spiritually irrelevant. Paul’s response to such conduct was sharp and to
the point:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of
Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and
make them members of a prostitute. Never! … Do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You
are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body (1 Cor 6:15, 19–20).
Through the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work given in Holy
Baptism, the physical body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Because we are now owned by God, we are called to glorify Him
in our body. This is the godly response to the twisted temptations
of Satan, such as pornography, foul language, marital infidelity,
and sexual immorality. In keeping with God’s original design, and
with His help, Christian men and women in mutual love and respect seek to honor Him by regarding each other as persons whose
bodies have been created and redeemed by Him.36
1 Peter 3
God intends that the lives of Christian men and women in
their relationship to each other will become to their neighbors and
friends a vivid testimony to the transformative power of the Gospel of His dear Son. As the maker of a tapestry yearns for more
than merely “a private showing,” God desires that the new life He
has created in us be displayed for others to see. Echoing the words
of Jesus (Matt 5:16), Peter writes: “Keep your conduct among the
Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of
visitation” (1 Pet 2:12). In this context of witness and mission to
the world, Peter talks about the potential for a loving Christian marriage to reveal the love of Christ and the church, and so submits his
“table of duties.” The section speaking about husbands and wives
must especially have come like an encouraging breath of fresh air
to the early Christians, who evidently were suffering public ridicule
from pagan critics:
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands,
so that even if some do not obey the word, they
may be won without a word by the conduct of their
wives—when they see your respectful and pure
conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the
braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting
on of clothing—but let your adorning be the hidden
person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of
a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very
precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped
in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to
their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling
him lord. And you are her children, if you do good
and do not fear anything that is frightening (1 Pet
3:1–6).
Like Paul, Peter urges wives to submit to their husbands, even
those who are not Christians. Textured with the imperishable
threads of a quiet and gentle spirit, the respectful submission of
wives to their unbelieving husbands has the potential of drawing
them to the Lord. Peter lifts up the matriarch Sarah to illustrate
how a wife’s respectful relationship to her husband is an adornment
highly pleasing to God. In sharp contrast to outward displays of
self-importance, a wife’s holy conduct becomes a model of the new
life into which all Christians have been baptized.

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