Ephesians 5:14-30

Amplified Bible

¹⁴For this reason He says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.”^(A)

¹⁵Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], ¹⁶^[a]making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk with wine, for that is wickedness (corruption, stupidity), but be filled with the [Holy] Spirit and constantly guided by Him.^(B) ¹⁹^[b]Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, [offering praise by] singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Marriage Like Christ and the Church

²²Wives, be subject ^[c]to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord. ²³For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body. ²⁴But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house].

²⁵Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], ²⁷so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. ²⁸Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members (parts) of His body.

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Footnotes

Ephesians 5:16 The Greek word in this verse means “buy up at the market place.” Opportunity is regarded as a commodity to be used by believers.
Ephesians 5:19 The Greeks had a tradition of holding drinking parties (called, in the singular, a symposium) where the object was to sing the praises of the pagan gods while becoming drunk. Perhaps with this tradition in mind, Paul instructs believers to “be filled” instead with the Holy Spirit and to sing meaningful praises to God.
Ephesians 5:22 The wife to her husband, not to men in general; not as inferior to him, nor in violation of her Christian ethics, but honoring her husband as protector and head of the home, respecting the responsibility of his position and his accountability to God.