Marriage, Part 3 - Wives, Submit Yourselves To Your Own Husbands, As Unto The Lord - Part B - Discussion

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Marriage, Part 3 - Wives, Submit Yourselves To Your Own Husbands, As Unto The Lord - Part B

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 
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. 
Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

We are continuing our examination of what makes a wife whom the Lord calls "a good thing [whose] price is far above rubies". What we saw in our last study was that the words of Paul instructing us in what makes for a successful marriage in Ephesians 5 also apply here in Proverbs 31 concerning what makes "a good... wife". What we came to see in our last discussion was that anything in the scriptures which concerns marriage is really speaking concerning "Christ and the church", male and female, husband and wives. After giving us all the instructions to help guide us in our physical marriages, this is what the holy spirit had Paul to reveal to us:

Revelation 2-3 addresses "the seven churches of Asia", but after each individual address we find these words:

Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches...

So what the spirit said to each church was actually being addressed to all the churches, "He that hath an ear..."

In the same manner, after giving us all the instructions to help guide us in our physical marriages, this is what the holy spirit had the apostle Paul to reveal to us:

Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Therefore every instruction Paul gave to wives in Ephesians 5 was actually being addressed to both husbands and wives, and every word spoken to the husbands was actually being given to the wives in "the church". "But I speak concerning Christ and the church."

Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

If everything Paul says about marriage "concerns Christ and the church" in Ephesians 5, then that same principle applies to everything said concerning the man who finds a good wife here in Proverbs 31, where we read:

Pro 31:10  Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Pro 31:11  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
Pro 31:12  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

This is a great mystery, but we are really speaking concerning Christ and the church while we are examining the qualities which make all of us, male and female, a good wife unto our Head, Christ, because if Christ really is the head of His church, then He is the husband of the entire church, male and female. And that is exactly what we are told is the case:

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.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

So we are one and all, male and female, being "present[ed]... as a chaste virgin to Christ" by the spirit of His Word, and as such we will continue to see what makes for a good wife, whose price is far above rubies and in whom the heart of our Lord can safely trust to do Him good and not evil all the days of our lives.

Last week's study brought us to:

Pro 31:21  She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
Pro 31:22  She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Pro 31:23  Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

"Her household... are clothed with scarlet", because the Lord's wife is not a gossip. She covers the sins of others "with scarlet", because 'scarlet', or 'red' in its positive application, means the covering for our sins: http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/why-three-different-hebrew-words-for-the-color-red/

Exo 36:19  And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that.

Pro 11:13  A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Pro 17:9  He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Jas 5:20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

There are three different words for the color red in this verse, but following "the dream is one" principle (Gen 41:25-26), they all mean the same thing.

Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Our sins are typified by the color red, and yet they are also covered and made white by the red blood of "the Lamb". That is one of the functions of a "good... wife":

Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"Her clothing is fine linen" tells those with eyes that see, who it is who really is this Proverbs 31 wife:

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

And what is the context of Revelation 19:8?

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The context is the "blessed... [who] are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb", unto His wife in whom His heart can safely trust to do Him good and not evil, all the days of her life.

The point being that we must learn to stop complaining about how our husband, Christ, is going about doing the work His Father has given Him, and to get behind him and speak well of Him, and not speak evil of Him at all times, even when it appears that he is leading us into physical, financial ruin. While all the daughters of Babylon are rebelling against "the voice of The Shepherd", His true wife is making linen garments to cover the nakedness of her husband and her children, and others also, knowing that even when we provide for our families, it is really Christ who is doing so:

Pro 31:24  She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers girdles to the merchant.

"Her husband" is Christ, and this "virtuous woman is "His Christ", His wife, His church. Therefore her provisions are really Christ providing for His household:

Mat 6:28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

This sounds so physical, and you wives may think that you are being instructed to become physical entrepreneuers, but that is not the point being made here. This is what is really being taught to all of us as the "chaste virgin... bride" of Christ concerning how we are to serve our Lord, our Head, our husbands and our families:

Tit 2:3  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Tit 2:4  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

This same 31st chapter of Proverbs demonstrates very clearly that "keepers at home" does not mean that she never goes out of the house. However, she does provide for her family and her home, and she is not giving her time and efforts to others ahead of her own family.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. [Your household comes first.]

Pro 31:16  She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

"Not false accusers" is addressed to wives in particular, but we are all the wife of Christ, and we all falsely accuse our Lord every time we forget the spiritual Truth that 'It is not I that do it but sin that dwells within me', and we forget that 'it was not you that sold me into Egypt, but God'. You as wives and we as husbands falsely accuse our own husband of adultery, fornication, neglect, oppression, or any other of the "works of the flesh", when we blame our husband (Christ) for what we think are the unjust things he is doing to us. You wives deny that your husbands' evil actions are a work of God for your good when you take it upon yourselves to withstand and attempt on your own strength to change your husband. Your attempts at assuming the headship, your attempts at manipulation, and your loud protestations against his leadership are all nothing less than a protest against the way Christ is ruling this world. All of us as the wife of Christ, are denying that it is God who is "work[ing] all things after the counsel of His own will" when we attempt to right the wrongs of this world, and we become guilty of rebelling against His work in our lives.

This is what the Lord tells us concerning the "basest of men", and how He uses us in this age:

Dan 4:17  This matter [The humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar] is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

I said 'us' because Daniel 4:17 is just the Old Testament way of saying what Romans 7 also teaches, which is that it is indeed 'us' who are being typified by Nebuchadnezzar as the rebellious old man within every man and woman who has ever lived. But that rebellion is really "not I", and when we act as if our sins are really our sins, then we are still that rebellious old man ourselves. Read it and believe it as it applies to your own husband, and as it applies to you:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

No one is advocating that this sad condition should be encouraged. I am certainly not telling any wife to encourage her husband to continue in sin. Absolutely not, but we are all told:

Rom 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

If you truly believe that your husband is a weaker brother than you are, then act according to how we are instructed to treat a brother who is "weak in the faith". Bear with that weakness all the while refusing to become weak yourself.

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
Rom 15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

The subtlety and gentleness with which you deal with your husband and the godly example you set for him will win your husband much quicker than any attempt to manipulate, argue with or attempt to usurp the headship that God ordained to be your husband's headship. If your husband wants junk food and junk drinks, and he insists on eating an unhealthy diet, do not attempt to force him to live with a healthy diet. Shop for yourself and your children and shop for your husband, and give him what he insists upon eating. It is not your place to take it upon yourself to change your husband. If he is on meds, give him his meds. If he refuses to take his medicine, let him learn his own way because Christ is teaching you to wait on Him. We know that the Lord works even the evil in this world through "the law of sin which is in our members", and you wives know that the evil in your husband is also being worked in him by "the law of sin which is in [His] members.

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

We know that God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), and now we are informed that we are all compelled to sin by "the law of sin... in [our] members". And who sustains that "law of sin"?

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest [your husband]?

Have we not all cried out to our heavenly Father the same prayer Paul cried out to God?

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

It is this knowledge that God is working all things, the good and the evil, and it is the strength to apply this knowledge which is the righteousness of Christ in you wives which clothes the wife who does her husband good all the days of her life. It is the sharing of this knowledge with the younger women and the example set by the older women which is the wisdom of her mouth and the kindness that is on her tongue.

Pro 31:23  Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

Christ is known in this world only by what the world sees of His wife, which 'wife' each of us is (Mat 5:14-16, and 2Co 11:2) of whom Christ, "the light of the world" in John tells us:

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

But then He turns right around and tells us:

Mat 5:14  Ye [Christ in us] are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

A wife who dishonors her husband is not the "light of the world". Instead she dishonors Christ and blasphemes His Word (Tit 2:5).

Pro 31:25  Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
Pro 31:26  She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
Pro 31:27  She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

This woman, who fears God, wants to serve her husband and please him, and she wants to be a Godly, God-fearing example to her children. The wife of Christ has been given to want to serve her physical and her spiritual husband enough to go to bed early enough to get her needed rest and to be able to get out of bed and prepare breakfast for her husband.

A Godly wife looks well to the ways of her household by being an example to her children and to all who know her. She considers it a blessing to be given that opportunity to feed her family. She tells her husband how much she appreciates his tireless efforts to keep her and their children fed and clothed and sheltered. She makes sure she is home to meet her husband with a loving kiss of gratitude when he gets home from a hard day's work. She does all of this without regard for how her husband treats her because 'the wisdom of her mouth' teaches her that she is to return good for evil and that her husband can trust her to strive to obey the Lord, whether she can or cannot trust him to do the same. She does all of this out of both the love she has for her husband and because she fears God who tells her to submit herself to her husband as unto the Lord. How you, as a wife, serve your husband is a direct reflection of how you are serving your Lord. If you blame your husband for his faults, you are blaming Christ Himself, because you know that Christ is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

Look again at verses 26 and 27, and consider how closely associated are those two verses.

Pro 31:26  She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
Pro 31:27  She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

When a Godly wife "opens her mouth with wisdom" she is looking well to the ways of her household by never ever bringing up the past sins or faults of her husband, regardless of how her husband treats her. A Godly wife "opens her mouth with wisdom" which instructs her to return good for evil, and to "cover a multitude of sins", which instructions must especially be applied to her own husband, her "first love". In doing so she is acting in accordance with her knowledge that her husband's faults and sins are not his sins, but they are the Lord's work in her own life. It is only by applying all this knowledge that you as a wife will "look well to the ways of [your] household".

Pro 31:28  Her sons rise up, and call her blessed. Her husband [also], and he praises her.

Your children and your husband will call you blessed because you did not revile when you were reviled. You submitted yourself to your head, even under adverse circumstances.  Doing what Christ says to do is to be greatly admired, greatly valued and greatly praised by all.

Pro 31:29  Many daughters have done worthily, but thou excel them all.
Pro 31:30  Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, [but] a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Pro 31:31  Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

No newly married couple starts out as a mature husband and a mature wife. Only Christ within you can be submissive while you are feeling abused by your husband. It takes "Christ in you" to endure the time of adjustment needed to adjust to putting your husband ahead of all else, and it takes Christ in your husband to begin to put you, his wife above all else in this world. Your husband and your children will praise you as a wife who is submissive to Christ even when being abused for a time, because you really do "fear the Lord" enough that you obey the Lord's commandments even when your husband does not. You are obedient under such trying circumstances because you "fear the Lord", and a wife and mother who fears the Lord "shall be praised". This "good... wife" loves her Lord even more than she loves her husband and her children, and because she is willing to lose her entire family, she will be given her family in the Lord's time:

Act 16:30  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

1Co 7:16  For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

A Godly husband is not a domineering tyrant who gives no consideration or responsibilities to His wife. A Godly husband will leave the affairs of the home in the care of his God-fearing wife whom he knows He can trust and who will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. But that does not mean that the husband forfeits his proper place as the head of his wife and the head of his family to a domineering wife. That simply will not produce the fruits of the spirit of God.

Being subject to your husband as unto Christ is the goal of every Godly wife. A God-fearing wife wants to be subject to her own husband in everything, as unto the Lord, and as the church is subject unto Christ. This is what any Godly wife aspires to do if she has even just a cursory knowledge of her place within a Godly family. Without this subjection to her husband there is no Godly order, and there can be no peace of Christ because every properly functioning 'body' has a head which instructs that body and leads every member of that body to do that which is for the good and the health of that body, "even as Christ gives Himself for the church."

Now, since I am speaking to the wife in this study, let's read Ephesians 5 from that perspective, substituting the word 'women' for 'men' and the word 'husband' for the word 'wife':

Eph 5:28  So ought [wo]men to love their [husband]s as their own bodies. [S]he that loveth h[er] [husband] loveth h[er]self.

Remember, we are informed that the entire church is the bride of Christ:

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

When we read "blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb", we are speaking of the same blessing pronounced upon those who are granted to be a part of the "blessed and holy... first resurrection":

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

"The marriage supper of the Lamb [is] the blessed and holy... first resurrection." There will not be one wife in the first resurrection who has continued to complain about her husband's faults and shortcomings. If you want to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, which is the marriage supper of the Lamb and His bride, then stop deriding your husband and start right now "doing him good and not evil as long as [you] live." The only wife who will be part of that bride of Christ in the first resurrection will be that wife who has repented of being resentful of the trials the Lord has given her.

The wife of the first resurrection will, like Job, have overcome that great sin against herself and against her husband and against her friends and her children and her family of 'contending with, reproving and condemning her husband'. Every wife in the first resurrection will have repented of condemning God for giving her a husband whose shortcomings have only served to manifest her own self-righteousness in condemning God while thinking she is condemning her husband. All the wives who are given to be in this wedding supper of Christ and His bride will be those men and women who have learned to really mean it when they pray, "Not my will but thine be done."

Any wife will just naturally ask, "But shouldn't men seek to please their wives? Should not men be considerate of their wives?" Of course they should, but not at the expense of letting "the neck turn the head", as the wife of a world famous mega minister told the 60 Minutes TV news magazine some years ago.

When "the neck turns the head" becomes acceptable household philosophy, this is the fruit of that family, and in time it becomes the fruit of the entire nation:

Isa 3:12  As for my [apostate] people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

We will stop here for now and resume this discussion next week. In that third part of this discussion we will see that it is as natural for a wife to ignore the Words of Christ and to want to lead her husband, her head, as it is for our rebellious, sinful, old man, to ignore the clear instructions Christ gives to him, and to want to usurp the headship of Christ.

These words apply equally to both husbands and wives, because in the spirit both are the wife of Christ, and both just naturally want to be the head of Christ, and both deal treacherously with their Head:

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Mal 2:10  Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Mal 2:11  Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
Mal 2:12  The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
Mal 2:13  And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
Mal 2:14  Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
Mal 2:15  And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Mal 2:16  For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
Mal 2:17  Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

We must, and in time we will, learn never to reprove, contend with or condemn the Lord who is working every trial in our lives for our good.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

So what are we to do when we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[The next part of this marriage series can be found here.]