God gave the man a powerful role in his household, but not without responsibility. The Bible shows that husbands are to treat their wives with love, care and respect. They must be trust-worthy leaders and protectors, co-workers and friends. These key Biblical qualities are necessary to fulfilling your God-given role as a husband.
Any good husband will know that his wife is his closest confidant, but in the same breath, he has a responsibility to be her protector and helpmeet. A good husband provides for his wife’s needs and wants; encourages, comforts and supports her through difficult times.
The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:3-5)
Duties Of A Husband In The Bible
The Bible describes in detail the responsibilities of the husband. This is a great source for husbands to read and understand what it means to be a godly man.
So husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of His body.
- Titus 2:3-5
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Ephesians 5:25-30
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. In this same way husbands ought to love their wives as they do their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.
- Genesis 2:18
“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
- Ephesians 5:33
“Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”
- 1 Peter 3:7-8
“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”
Characteristics Of A Good Husband According To The Bible
Here are some helpful Bible verses for husbands. The Bible makes it very clear about the important role of a husband. Wives, please read these verses and let your husband know that he is important and we have great expectations from him
Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 25 helpful votes
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Colossians 3:19 ESV / 24 helpful votes
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 23 helpful votes
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 21 helpful votes
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
1 Corinthians 11:3 ESV / 17 helpful votes
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 16 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, …
Titus 2:4 ESV / 14 helpful votes
And so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
Ephesians 5:23 ESV / 14 helpful votes
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Ephesians 5:28 ESV / 13 helpful votes
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Genesis 3:16 ESV / 13 helpful votes
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Genesis 2:18 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:24 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
1 Peter 3:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,
Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. …
Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 9 helpful votes
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:32 ESV / 8 helpful votes
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Galatians 3:28 ESV / 8 helpful votes
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 19:9 ESV / 8 helpful votes
And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:21 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 7 helpful votes
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …
Matthew 19:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Matthew 19:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”
Matthew 5:32 ESV / 7 helpful votes
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, …
1 Peter 3:1-6 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, …
Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 5:24 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Proverbs 31:30 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:1-31 ESV / 6 helpful votes
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. …
Proverbs 14:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes
The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.
Biblical Responsibilities Of A Man
As the leader of the home, your husband has the ultimate responsibility of maintaining a God-honoring marriage. In this marriage series I will walk you through what it means to be a good husband and how to start fulfilling that responsibility today.
It is the responsibility of a husband to love and care for his wife. If he doesn’t, it would be an enormous failure on his part and a disgrace over time.
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 3:4-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes
He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
Colossians 3:18-19 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Ephesians 1:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Acts 5:29 ESV / 5 helpful votes
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Luke 2:51 ESV / 5 helpful votes
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 5 helpful votes
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Revelation 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
1 Peter 3:5-6 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
1 Peter 3:1-2 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
Titus 2:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes
To be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Titus 2:4-5 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
Ephesians 5:28-29 ESV / 4 helpful votes
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
Ephesians 5:21-24 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 4:1-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, …
Romans 7:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
Matthew 19:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
Proverbs 31:28 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
Proverbs 12:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes
An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.
Esther 5:1-14 ESV / 4 helpful votes
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. …
Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
Colossians 3:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Ephesians 3:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. …
Matthew 19:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
What Does God Say About A Husbands Role
“While the head of the man is Christ and the head of the woman is man, there’s still a unity between these two when they seek to obey the Lord and look for His provision.”
Bible verses about husbands responsibilities. There are many times that a man feels alone in his responsibilities and asks how he can lead his family.
Matthew 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Proverbs 31:10-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. …
Genesis 2:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
1 Peter 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes
As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
1 Peter 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—
1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
Titus 2:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
1 Timothy 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
1 Timothy 2:11-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
1 Timothy 2:11-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
Colossians 3:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Ephesians 6:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes
“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Ephesians 5:28-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. …
Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, …
Ephesians 5:25-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Ephesians 5:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Ephesians 5:22-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, …
Ephesians 5:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes
(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
1 Corinthians 7:2-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Mark 10:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,
Mark 10:1-52 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. …
Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” …
Matthew 19:3-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Matthew 15:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes
For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’
Isaiah 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes
My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
Proverbs 31:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes
“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
Proverbs 31:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes
She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
Proverbs 31:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes
She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
