Love According to the Bible: What about the women?

What about women? What does God’s word tell them about how to treat their husbands?

The only time it is suggested for the woman to love her husband is in Titus. This passage talks about older women being an example to the younger women in order to train them to love their husbands and children, hardly a call for wives to ‘love their husband’. Women are not told anywhere else in the Bible to ‘love’ their husbands.

So what are wives supposed to do, according to the Bible?

Eph.5:33 says,“Each one of you, (husbands) also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

The number one emotional need of men is to feel respected. Love is secondary to them as long as they know their wife respects them. Women are called to respect their husbands.

Even more than respect, in Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, and I Peter 3, wives are called to submit to their husbands. Respect and submission go hand in hand.

According to my Word dictionary, respect means, “a feeling or attitude of admiration and deference toward somebody or something.”

Deference means, “1. polite respect - especially putting another person’s interests first, and 2. submission - to the judgment, opinion or wishes of another person.”

The word submit means “to yield one’s own rights, to accept somebody else’s authority or will.”

Before we discuss submission in today’s terms, (and you get your panties in a twist...) let’s look back at Adam and Eve - on Friday's blog.

Until then, consider how much respect you show your husband so he is able to love you as you need.