The church must understand, define, describe and identify domestic violence and abuse. the church must follow that by a commitment to rescue, protect, and care for the victims, and hold the abusers accountable. How might we describe abuse, given these biblical considerations? We do not do it by merely calling abuse sin and moving on. This would be like calling cancer a disease or methamphetamine a stimulant. Both labels are true but inadequate to handle the complexity of these problems. The problem of abuse has its own particular dynamics, and these doctrines highlight various aspects of these dynamics. Abuse warps God’s image. Abuse has as much to do with who a person is as it does with what a person does.Abuse is love in reverse. Trying to control others is not why God gives people personal strength. The Lord designed people with God-like faculties for one main purpose: to love. Abuse warps the purpose of marriage. This reversal of love is particularly dangerous in marriage because of what marriage was designed to be. God instituted marriage from creation as a union unlike any other type of human relationship (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:5-6). May the Lord give his servants discernment and courage to deal with abuse in the church forthrightly and biblically as ministers of Christ.