Showing honor to our wives

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1Pe 3:7)

How do we honor and esteem our wives?

We do not esteem our wives by asking them to do what we have been called to do. Abdication of leadership in the church and the home is not a sign that we honor our wives, it is a sign that we are lazy. I fear that some of my brothers who are seeking a Biblical ecclesiology have not only cast the baby out with bathwater, they have inadvertently slipped backed into the institutional thinking that places a premium on preaching and teaching over all other callings in the church. All callings in the church have value and by exalting the role of leadership and preaching by insisting that Biblical roles be set aside betrays the idea that all members of the Body of Christ have a vital but different role to play. More on this later.

We do not honor our wives by telling them that how they were made and to what they were called by our mutual Creator is inferior and that in order to be valuable in the eyes of God they need to ignore His Word and listen to the values and standards of the world.

We esteem our wives by recognizing and taking joy in their unique womanhood. We honor our wives by honoring their callings. We honor them by not only recognizing but taking joy in the differences in nature and calling that God has ordained. Equality in salvation does not equate to uniformity in calling.

We honor our wives by taking joy in them and in recognizing their unique and irreplaceable call as our helpmeets. We show honor to our wives by protecting them and by leading in the home. By respecting her and demanding that same respect from our children and from others toward her.

Most of all we honor our wives by loving them as Christ loved the church. He loved His elect so much that He laid down His life for us. How many of us can say that we love our wives in this way? I know I fall far short of that but I strive to live up to that lofty goal in my own imperfect and inadequate way. Our wives are heirs with us in salvation and the blood that Jesus Christ shed for them is as precious as the blood He shed for us. The same one who died for His sheep, men and women alike, ordained roles that suit and complement one another in the church and the home.

Honor His Word by honoring our wives and by honoring womanhood.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)