How is holiness manifested within the context of marriage?

Marcus Serven explains in this video that holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing forth the transformative aspects of the Gospel. Martin Luther pointed out that while we are justified, we are still sinners. Scripture teaches us that there is a period of growth that takes place after conversion, called sanctification.

In marriage, we must recognize that our spouses are sinners as we are. Over time, as we grow in holiness, we deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and truly follow Christ.

Specifically, for the husband, this means thinking of your wife first before yourself. How you can please your wife. This involves self-sacrifice, self-denial, thinking of one's spouse, and dying daily to yourself. These are some of the ways that holiness is manifested in the home and in marriage.

Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV) – “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”

The whole question of how this holiness manifests itself or what does it look like in a family context and specifically in marriage between a husband and a wife. Well, holiness, as I already said, is the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing about the transformative aspects of the gospel. And so when you wake up every day, do you remember that you're in Christ and do you confess your needs as a sinner saint. The way Martin Luther would put it is that we're semel justus et peccador, which means simultaneously justified while still a sinner. And he coined that way of thinking based on numerous parts of scripture, which teach that there's this period of growth and progress that has to take place after one's conversion.

And that's what we call sanctification, of course. So in the family, what that looks like is that I have to recognize that my wife is a sinner saint just like me and she needs to recognize that of her husband, namely me. But what happens over time is as you're growing in holiness, then the person begins to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and truly follow Jesus in the Christian life in that marriage. And so for the husband specifically it means thinking of your wife first rather than yourself. Or for the wife it means respecting and honoring your husband and thinking about how she might please him, and for the husband to think how he might please his wife, that's how that's worked out.

And so the whole issue of self-sacrifice, of self-denial, of thinking about the other person, of dying daily to yourself, That's a way that it's manifested in the marriage and in the home life. You