Some of us have heard the comment, meant to be humorous, “I told her I loved her when we got married. If anything changes, I’ll let her know.” Many of us who share the typical male proclivities may almost naturally think that if we provide for our wives and protect them, we are demonstrating love. But there is a far greater depth of meaning here.

There’s this one word that causes great discomfort to many. It’s the word “head.” To ears sensitized to any hint of subservience and always on the lookout for signs of possible abuse, the idea that one member of the marital union is called “the head” to which the other is to subject themself can seem off-putting, even offensive. It can feel risky in the extreme.

As we examine these sometimes-volatile verses it is crucial that we keep our perspective. The focus of our study is now upon verses that well exemplify the reason that context must never be ignored when interpreting and applying Scripture. Doctrine built on passages severed from their context leads to a great deal of pain and division. Such teaching gives the world fuel with which to malign the word of God and the cause of Christ.

Consequently, we are well advised to ask ourselves “what is the context from which we are to approach our understanding of these verses?”

Everyone Has a Choice. If you had no choice, love for God would be impossible. You would be a slave, a puppet, an automaton, doing the will of a domineering puppet master. For there to be a choice, there must be at least two options.

Many have wrongly taught that we are only positionally or judicially righteous. They say that God sees us as righteous and that when we leave this temporal life we will be made completely righteous in heaven. Or they teach that righteousness has been written down to our account, or we have been judged righteous but again, this will only be received by us in heaven.

The problem is that this isn't what the Scriptures teach.

According to Oxford Languages, the definition of a heretic is "a person believing in or practicing religious heresy" or "a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted." They give this example, "the Vatican branded Galileo a heretic for saying the Earth revolved around the sun."

So, by that definition, I am a heretic too, and I'm OK with that because the Scriptures agree with me.

I hold a very unpopular view on despotic government. It is my belief that we who are in Christ are to continue sacrificially Loving those around us. I think we are called to be ready to provide an answer for the hope we have to those who ask. I believe we are to continue to express Christ in every situation.

I am not a fan of so-called “prayer chains” for a number of reasons. It has been the experience of many that participating in prayer chains produces a kind of heaviness. Often there is a sense of obligation rather than conversing with our Father out of real concern.

I understand very well that our upbringing and certain physiological traits, such as a tendency toward addiction for example, have a great effect on us as we mature. Many people find themselves unable to move past these things or to overcome the physiological proclivities they find troubling.

Behaving rightly does not save us. Nor does good behavior earn us greater blessing from Father. However, since we are His kids, it does reflect on Him. We are His ambassadors, and poor behavior makes us ineffective in that role.

Love is not focused on self. Love is focused on others. There is no love without there being an object of that Love. Someone to whom Love is directed. Another someone, the best interests of whom are the desire of our own heart.

In these few sentences, the Holy Spirit reminds us of who we are in Christ. Through Paul, He sets before us Life and death and encourages us to choose Life, just as He did through Moses in Deuteronomy 30:19

We react almost instinctively, so when we are not watching closely enough it appears as though there was no opportunity for a decision at all. This is a subtle lie from our enemy and once we recognize it, we can become more aware of those moments in which we choose ungodly attitudes and actions.

In tiny ways as we go about our daily lives, we naturally spread the Love of God. People see more than we realize and seeds that have the potential to change the landscape of people’s lives are planted.

Paul says that sin lives in his members, in his body. The Greek here is (melos) which means members or parts of one’s physical body. For me, this is crucial because it helps me understand the Biblical use of (sarx-flesh) more readily.

Jesus is the thread of Scripture. Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus is foreshadowed in the Old Testament and manifested in the New.

As the children of Light, the royal priesthood of God, we are not to join in with the unfruitful, dark, and wicked manner of living exemplified by those in the world. Before we are tempted to get carried away with this and make up a new law about disassociating ourselves from the world completely—as some have done—let’s pause to remember what the Scriptures have to say on this matter.

The point I’m making is that even a little light dispels darkness. We have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. In Colossians 1:13 we read that He has “delivered us from the power (or domain) of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (KJV 1900) So, we are being exhorted to live accordingly. The reason we are given is that “the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”

As the holy children of God, let’s avoid these because as the text says, they are “not convenient.” What that interesting piece of Elizabethan English means is that they do not fit. They are not proper or appropriate. They do not relate to us.

This is poignant for me because of late I have been helping someone navigate situations in which they are being very poorly treated by someone they love. There is great relational risk. When things are this hard, it can be more than challenging to respond in Love. It can seem that Loving sacrificially is simply too dangerous. It can seem that if one were to give oneself to another, even one greatly loved, the result might be complete loss of oneself.