![]() Paul was the apostle, teacher, and preacher to the Gentiles (1 Tim. Paul suffered imprisonment or confinement several times in the service of Christ (Eph 4:1 Acts 16:23 24:23 Col. This was to assure his Gentile readers that their share in the inheritance is authentic because of its divine origin. Paul explains his calling and ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The church’s utter holiness and moral perfection will be consummated in resurrection glory, but is derived from the consecrating sacrifice of Christ on the cross. There may also be a link here to Ezekiel 16:1–13, where the Lord washes infant Israel, raises her, and eventually elevates her to royalty and marries her, which would correspond to presenting the church to himself in splendor at his marriage supper (see also Ezek. This might be a reference to baptism, since it is common in the Bible to speak of invisible, spiritual things (in this case, spiritual cleansing) by pointing to an outward physical sign of them (see Rom. Sanctify here means to consecrate into the Lord’s service through cleansing. The focus in these verses is on Christ, for husbands do not “sanctify” their wives or “wash” them of their sins, though they are to do all in their power to promote their wives’ holiness. ![]() Notably, Paul devotes three times more space to the husband’s duty (nine verses) than to the wife’s (three verses). The husband is bound by love to ensure that his wife finds their marriage a source of rich fulfillment and joyful service to the Lord. Clearly the biblical picture of a husband laying down his life for his wife is directly opposed to any kind of male tyranny or oppression. Thus, husbands are to love their wives in a self-sacrificial manner, following the example of Christ, who “gave himself up for” the church in loving self-sacrifice. He does not command the husband to submit to his wife but instead tells the husband that he must give himself up for her. 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. Support for the second position is found in 1 Corinthians 13:12, which indicates that “then” (the time when these gifts will cease) is the time of Christ’s return. 13:10) ways of speaking and knowing in the age to come replace the “in part” (1 Cor. Others hold that Paul expected these gifts to continue until Christ returns, which will be the time when “the perfect” (1 Cor. The “cessationist” view is that miraculous gifts such as prophecy, healing, tongues, interpretation, and miracles were given to authenticate the apostles and their writings in the early years of the church, but those gifts “ceased” once the entire New Testament was written and the apostles died (c. Interpreters differ over the time when Paul expects prophecies to pass away and tongues to cease (along with other gifts represented by these examples). As for prophecies, they will pass away as for tongues, they will cease as for knowledge, it will pass away. Love believes the best of others and hopes the best for them. The terms believes and hopes are sandwiched between bears and endures and, like them, probably refer to relationships between people rather than to faith and hope in God. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude. Be set aright and encouraged by these verses and commentary adapted from the ESV Study Bible. The biblical picture of love can differ wildly from how the world defines it. This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.
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