Ephesians 5:31-33 — One Flesh

READ THIS: Ephesians 5:31-33

31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

The quote we see here in verse 31 actually comes from Genesis 2:24... so let's get some context on what's happening here. In Genesis 2, God sees that Adam desperately needs a helper. God provides Adam with everything in His creation, including every animal, but none of them makes a suitable helper for him. So God creates Eve, a woman, from Adam. Like, literally from Adam! When Adam is asleep, God takes a rib from him and creates Eve out of it. So Adam and Eve really are "one flesh," or one body!

Over the last few days, we have been talking about marriage. When a man and woman choose to marry one another, God joins them together as one flesh just as He did with Adam and Eve in the beginning. To become one flesh fully, a husband and wife must leave the people or things they used to cling to, then cling to each other. For some, what they leave can be unhealthy relationships, shame from sin, or a life of bad choices.

This goes the same way for Christ and the church. Jesus already did His part; He came down from heaven, leaving His life there so that we could be united with Him. Now it's our turn! We can choose today to leave what is holding us back and become one flesh with Christ! All we have to do is ask Jesus for help and watch our lives transform in front of us as we become one.

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. What is holding you back from becoming one flesh with Jesus?

2. Why do you think the Bible uses marriage as a picture of Jesus's love for us?
 
TRY THIS:
 
Check out another time in God's Word where this Genesis passage was mentioned... this time by Jesus! In Matthew 19:3-6, Jesus uses the Genesis verse to explain why we should not pursue divorce:

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”  4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,' 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 26, 2023 at 6:38 AM

    August 21st is our 52nd anniversary! We are one flesh. Sometimes our one body gets “sick” but it does not mean you divorce. Jesus can make us well again when the ONE body repents and forgives each other. Thanks be to God for His goodness towards us!

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