Christ in Marriage and Family Life

The risen life moves directly into the household. Wives and husbands, children and fathers are addressed as moral agents under the Lord. Wives are called to fitting submission “in the Lord”; husbands are commanded to love rather than become bitter; children are called to obedience; fathers are warned not to provoke their children to discouragement. The household is not treated as a spiritually neutral sphere.

Where this fits in the story: marriage and family belong to the Bible’s story from Genesis onward, but New Testament household teaching repeatedly relocates authority and duty under Christ. The parallel in Ephesians expands the marriage relationship around Christ’s self-giving love for the church.