The role of the husband
GOD IS PERFECT.
Therefore, His works are perfect. Since God invented marriage for imperfect people, He had to make rules for its success.
God set forth rules both before and after man sinned. God’s mandate for the first marriage in the Garden: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, i.e. do not sin. That rule still applies to all marriages. The more we sin after marriage, the more difficulty we will have in marriage.
When
we ignore these rules, marriage is a failure. There is no such thing as a
neutral marriage; it either succeeds or fails.
First
Corinthians 7:3, “Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise
also the wife to her husband. Each
has a duty to the other.
Marriage
is more than finding the right person; it is being the right person.
To
be the right person the husband must be cognizant of the divine rules of
marriage.
The husband is to recognize the three Grace gifts from Jesus Christ:
The right woman - Christ built her
Salvation - Christ did it
Doctrine - Christ thought it
The husband has to realize that the Cross is God's greatest demonstration of grace and the woman is God's walking illustration of grace.
The
motivation of impersonal love as the integrity principle for personal love is
found in Ephesians 5.25,
God
designed marriage. God is
Perfect. Therefore, anything He
designs is perfect. The design is
perfect for imperfect persons. God
has provided in His grace and wisdom for our imperfections and failures in
marriage. God also warns about the
things that cause marriage not to succeed.
Personal
love is conditional.
Impersonal
love is unconditional.
Active
virtue in Scripture:
Ephesians
5.25, “Husbands, love your wives (impersonal love) just as Christ also loved
the Church and gave Himself as a substitute for her. Active virtue by husbands is impersonal love.
Colossians
3.19, “Husbands, love your wives (personal love) and so not be bitter against
them. Active virtue by husbands is
personal love.
Marriage
is not designed for the husband to be a bully or to suppress the woman’s
volition, but promotes it and directs it toward the woman in response to his
love. Anything a man does to
destroy or limit the volition of a woman is disastrous.
The greater the sphere of the woman’s free will, the greater can be her
motivation and capacity to love the man.
In active
virtue, the man’s volition has two directions in marriage.
Impersonal love for all mankind, which produces capacity for personal
love.
Personal love for his wife.
The weak
man in marriage.
a.
The weak
man acts on someone else. The weak
man enters into premarital sex, which destroys his standards and locks him into
the attraction stage.
i.
Premarital sex is the guarantee that you never have a happy relationship
in marriage apart from regeneration and spiritual growth.
The same is true of the woman. Once
she engages in premarital sex with multiple partners, she will never be able to
respond successfully to one man.
ii.
God designed sex for recreation in marriage not just procreation.
There is no meaning to bring children into the world unless there is a
system of rapport established in sex, in which the woman is completely and
totally satisfied. The man must understand everything necessary to satisfy a
woman.
b.
The weak
man enters into active arrogance and pursues the woman until she has no privacy
and cannot stand him. Male active
arrogance pesters the woman because of wounded arrogance and she reacts and
rejects him.
c.
The weak
man bullies his wife, stifles her volition, and abuses his God given authority
in marriage. God gives authority to
the man. He also bullies his
children and cause abnormal fear and resentment in them.
d.
The weak
man is unfaithful in attraction and in marriage.
e.
The weak
man in passive arrogance depends on flattery, praise, and approbation from
women. But God ordained marriage so
that the woman would look up to the man. When
the woman cuts off the flattery, the man in passive arrogance is despondent and
deflated.
f.
The weak
man has no grace orientation in his life. The
weak man feels threatened by doctrine and reacts to it.