After Paul said that Christians should be spirit filled he went on to explain what that meant to husbands and wives. First he said that for wives, it would lead them to be willing to serve their husbands. They would not be resentful. For the husbands, it meant that they should love their wives as they love their own bodies. What does that mean? It means that as they are sensitive to the emotions and pains of their body, they should be also sensitive to the emotions and pains of their wives.
33 Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband—(Eph 5:33).
From the wife and the husband Paul asked different things. He asked that the wife would respect her husband, and he asked that the husband would invest compassionate affection in his wife. Respect will open the door of the husband's heart, and compassionate understanding will open the door of the wife's heart.
