Ode to a Woman of Strength

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish.^{(A) 28} In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body.^{[a](B) 31} “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{(C) 32} This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. ³³ Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect^[b] her husband.