By Bishop Gary S. Brooks

These writings may be used to benefit the Body of Christ everywhere without condition. Yet we would be honored to hear from you that we may personally add our blessing also. So if you desire to, then please contact us .

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The Marriage Covenant

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This writing has been transcribed from a recorded message given by Bishop Gary S. Brooks in 1999 and has been edited for content to make for easier reading and clarification.

Scripture text from Ephesians 5:17-33 KJV

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PART 2
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-Wives, Submit Unto Your Own Husbands

-The Husband is the Head of the Wife

-Wives are Subject to Their Husbands as the Church is Subject unto Christ

-Husbands, Love Your Wives as Christ Loves the Church

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Wives, Submit Unto Your Own Husbands

Wives, and now this is how the wife submits to her husband, and then we will talk about how husbands submit to their wives. This is what is written here (Verse 22) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. You know, you don’t submit yourself unto somebody else’s husband. Amen, that happens now. We are all adults here, right? There are some wives who submit unto somebody else’s husband. Now the first thing a woman needs to understand is that you’ve got no business getting married to the man of God… I’m talking about Christians now because that’s to whom the letter is addressed. You’ve got no business getting married to the man of God if you cannot submit unto him as unto the Lord. The word Lord here means Lord God, or Master. It also means to rule, a sovereign, controller (human or divine), lord, master, or owner. As it was with Abraham and his wife… remember Sarah, whose daughters in the faith you are…  she obeyed Abraham and she called him her lord, as he who had the responsibility of being the head in their marriage covenant. This is going to be well illustrated here. This is a mystery we are discussing today, but it will be illustrated quite well by the Scriptures here.

The Husband is the Head of the Wife

A wife must find now in the spouse, the husband who she is looking to be married to, that she needs to receive him and submit herself to him like the Church does unto the Lord. This is where this verse goes to and will be very explanatory as we go along. (Eph. 5:23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Now, some have not understood this so I’ll make it very simple. Here I am, a whole person. Meaning that I have all my limbs. I have a head, feet, arms; I’m a whole person. Jesus Christ is now the Head of the Church and the Church is His Body and He fills the whole Body with Himself. The Church has become members of His Body and we are members in particular. Let’s make it simple. Some of you might be a finger. You may be a foot. You may be an eye. You may be an ear. But as Christians, we are members of His Body and that’s how we need to begin to understand marriage. The husband is the head of the wife in the same way as Christ is the Head of the Church. Does everybody get the picture of that? So if you were to look at me as being male and female, then the male part of me would be my head and the female part of me would be my body. Christ is the Head of the Church, and that is His body. So a bride looking to a bridegroom must realise that the one that she marries is going to become her head. The husband has the responsibility to lead and is placed first in rank as the head in the marriage covenant. This is what it says here (Verse 23), For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Now we’re talking about how the wife submits to her husband; then we’re going to turn it around.

Wives are Subject to Their Own Husbands as the Church is Subject Unto Christ

(Eph. 5:24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Now, to me, the key phrase here is, Therefore as the Church… everybody say, “As the Church”. This simply means that, in the same way as the Church is subjected to Christ as being their Head, that it is the same way that the wife should be subjected to her husband as her head. Now let me throw something out to you. If your husband is asking you to do something that’s contrary to how Jesus Christ, as the Head of His Own Church, would have you to do, and your husband insists that he wants you to do it some other way… you are not subject to that! Are you still here? You see, some wives have been beaten up so badly by the husband, spiritually, that they cannot even think for themselves! But it says here, Therefore as the Church. In the same way as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Husbands, Love Your Wife as Christ Loves the Church

Now wives, listen, the husbands are not off the hook on these things. It’s not a one-sided affair. (Verse 25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. We husbands ought to love our wives in the same way that Christ, as being Head of the Church, loves His Church, which is His Bride! You know, forgive me, but I think that any woman would be crazy not to hook herself up with a man like that! How would wives like to be hooked up with a man that loves you in the same way that Christ loves the Church and gave Himself at the cross for her! You see, this is now how the husbands subject themselves to their wives. Husbands love your wives. I want to tell you something now. Some of you might not know this but the New Testament was written in a Greek language and interpreted by scholars in 1611 for the King James Bible. Anyhow, the original translation is from Greek. Many times when the world uses the word love they are really meaning to say eros, which is the Greek word that would describe sexual love between a husband and his wife. So, there is a Greek word here for love. When it says, Husbands, love your wives, this is the Greek word agapeo, which means to love. Our problem is that when we talk about love… this is what we’ll do in one sentence. We’ll say, “I love my wife, I love my dog, and I love peanut butter sandwiches.” Right? So, do you love your wife the same way you love your dog? No! Do you love your wife the same way you love peanut butter sandwiches? No!

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