^24 (A)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Marriage like Christ and the Church

^22 (A)Wives, ^(B)subject yourselves to your own husbands, ^(C)as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(D)the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the ^(E)head of the church, He Himself ^(F)being the Savior of the body. ²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

^25 (G)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(H)gave Himself up for her, ^26 (I)so that He might sanctify her, having ^(J)cleansed her by the ^(K)washing of water with ^(L)the word, ²⁷ that He might ^(M)present to Himself the church ^[a]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be ^(N)holy and blameless. ²⁸ So husbands also ought to ^(O)love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; ²⁹ for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰ because we are ^(P)parts of His ^(Q)body. ^31 (R)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ³² This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to ^(S)love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she ^(T)respects her husband.

³ Some Pharisees came to ^[a]Jesus, testing Him and ^[b]asking, “^(A)Is it lawful for a man to ^[c]divorce his wife for any reason at all?” ⁴ And He answered and said, “Have you not read ^(B)that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘^(C)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(D)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” ⁷ They *said to Him, “^(E)Why, then, did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” ⁸ He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to ^[d]divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. ⁹ And I say to you, ^(F)whoever ^[e]divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman ^[f]commits adultery^[g].”

⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, ^(A)He humbled Himself by becoming ^(B)obedient to the point of death: ^(C)death ^[a]on a cross.