Grammar Quiz 101: Find the Conditional Clause

Okay -- Grammar 101 Quiz:
To all husbands and wives and those men and women aspiring to be husbands and wives

Assignment: Please find the conditional clause located in the scriptural passage; the sanctity and productivity of your marriage depends on it.

25 (BB)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and (BC)gave Himself up for her, 26 (BD)so that He might sanctify her, having (BE)cleansed her by the (BF)washing of water with (BG)the word, 27 that He might (BH)present to Himself the church [q]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be (BI)holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to (BJ)love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are (BK)members of His (BL)body. 31 (BM)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to (BN)love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she [r](BO)respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:22-33, NASB)


Answer: There is no conditional clause in this passage of scripture which was written by the Apostle Paul addressing a common result of the fall in the garden -- women treating their husbands with contempt and attempting to control them through different methods of manipulation (c.f. "The Woman's Desire" by Susan T. Foh) and the Husband treating his wife in an unloving and selfish manner.

There is no conditional clause here. It does not say, 'Wives, if you feel your husband deserves respect" or "husband if your wife behaves in a loving way". It gives explicit command to wives to live in a submissive (not subservient) way with their husbands as if unto the Lord (meaning submit unto him as he is the direct representation and the authority bearer of Christ's power in the home). It tells the husband to love his wife to the point of death. This does not represent only physical death, but points more emphatically to death to self. He is to nourish (Greek ektrepho - meaning to rear up to maturity, cherish and train) and cherish (Greek thalpo -- meaning to brood over and protect with high regard an high value assessed) her.

Wives it is time to give your husbands the honor that God has assigned to him, not what you feel he deserves. Husbands, it is time to lay down your life, it is no longer about you. You now stand as a direct representative of Christ to your wife and children. When you return home this evening from your days work, leave self outside the door and don't pick it up again.

In summation, I leave both husbands and wives this one simple message -- it is not about you. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace
#marriage #christianmarriage