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29 For no one has ever hated his own body,[a] but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.[b] 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become[c] one flesh.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Ephesians 5:29 tn Grk “flesh.”
  2. Ephesians 5:30 tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א2 D F G Ψ 0278 0285vid 1175 1505 1739mg M lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek tēs sarkos autou kai ek tōn osteōn autou, “of his flesh and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (P46 א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 co). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as autographic.
  3. Ephesians 5:31 tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”
  4. Ephesians 5:31 sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.(A) 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. Ephesians 5:31 Gen. 2:24