Ephesians 5:31

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." Ephesians 5:31
There is a bridge between every "reasoning" being and his or her parents, that once we cross over it, we can never go back. Our parents are responsible for our spiritual life until we reach the age of accountability. At that point in life when a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, He becomes our Spiritual Guide. Your parents may still be influential in spiritual things, however, Christ must become your sole adviser...

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters--[yes] and even his own life also--he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after (follow) Me cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:26-27

So, we see that a Christian has already began to "leave" his or her father and mother, in a sense, as Paul says here in verse 31, but there is another very important part of this thought, which is concerning the matter of "headship". The word "leave" does not necessarily refer to moving out and away from our parents, just because we have married... although most would argue that it should, it was not always the case in the bible nor in times of today. However, because the intimacy between a man and wife is greater than other earthly relationships... even between parent and child, the Christian couple must now consider their relationship greater than all others, EXCEPT their individual relationship with God. If the newly joined couple must live with a parent or parents, everyone involved in this arrangement must respect, the order that God has ordained in this teaching. It's not that we are no longer one with our Christian parents, nor that we "just" became one (in intimacy) with our Christian spouse, but that we have entered into all relations, "a new order of headship" within this new marriage. Like Adam and Even became one flesh, the newly married Christians have become a helpmate to the other. Eve was made for Adam and they became one. The purpose of this union goes all the way back to Genesis... In fact this verse directly relates to Gen 2:24. In the Hebrew the word for “man” is ish and for “woman” it is isha. The word is almost the same, because the woman was taken out of man. This union is a beautiful picture of the relationship between the church and Jesus Christ! Although Christ temporarily left God's side in heaven, He could never "leave" God, but we'll see in our next verse, how all this works out... and we know from our study thus far, that is has "everything" to do with God's love for His people - The Church!

Let's pick up with Ephesians verse 5:32 next time.

I love you.