Gospel-Centered Marriage, Part 2

Paul called for husbands to love their wives as their own bodies because he understood that the "one flesh" of Genesis 2:24 prefigured Christ's becoming united to his bride—the church (cf. verse 31). Husbands are to emulate Christ who intimately united the church to himself, covenantally bound his own regal identity to hers and bestowed upon her pride in her place alongside himself "in the heavenly realms."