Ephesians 5

Evangelical Heritage Version

5 Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. ² And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³ But do not let sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, or greed even be mentioned among you, as is proper for saints. ⁴ Obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking are also out of place. Instead, give thanks. ⁵ Certainly you are aware of this: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, who is God.^{[a] 6} Let no one deceive you with empty words. It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁷ So do not share in what they do.

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ⁹ for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. ¹⁰ Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, ¹¹ and do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness. Instead, expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes things visible. ¹⁴ Therefore it is said, “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Consider carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise people. ¹⁶ Make the most of your time,^[b] because the days are evil. ¹⁷ For this reason, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk on wine, which causes you to lose control. Instead, be filled with the Spirit ¹⁹ by speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (singing and making music with your hearts to the Lord), ²⁰ by always giving thanks for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ and by submitting to one another in reverence for Christ.

Husbands and Wives

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he himself is the Savior. ²⁴ Moreover, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, in the same way as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word. ²⁷ He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands have an obligation to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ To be sure, no one has ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.^{[c] 31} “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will be one flesh.”^{[d] 32} This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ In any case, each one of you also is to love his wife as himself, and each wife is to respect her husband.