How exactly does a husband love his wife like Christ loved the Church?
Let’s read the verse you’re referring to: Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Now let’s read Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
There are two words for love in the Bible: one is ‘agape’ and the other is ‘phileo’. It’s been said that agape is an “in spite of” kind of love, while phileo is a “because of” know of love. In both of the above verses, the love referred to is the agape love. That means that Christ loved us in spite of ourselves and gave Himself for us. As husbands, we are to love our wives in spite of the circumstances and give our lives to provide for all their needs. It’s a sacrificial love.
How can we possibly love someone that much? How can we love someone no matter what happens? Romans 5:5 teaches us that, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” By ourselves we could not possibly love our wives the way the Lord loved us. But as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the agape love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Another Bible translation says the love of God is “poured out into our hearts.”
The Lord has gifted you with a wife. Use that sacrificial kind of love that the Lord has given you to love your wife and give yourself to making her happy, cared for and provided for.