Ephesians 5:21-33
English Standard Version
21 (A)submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives and Husbands
22 (B)Wives, (C)submit to your own husbands, (D)as to the Lord. 23 For (E)the husband is the head of the wife even as (F)Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is (G)himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit (H)in everything to their husbands.
25 (I)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and (J)gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by (K)the washing of water (L)with the word, 27 so (M)that he might present the church to himself in splendor, (N)without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way (O)husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because (P)we are members of his body. 31 (Q)“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and (R)the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, (S)let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she (T)respects her husband.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ephesians 5:27 Or holy and blameless
Ephesians 5:21-33
The Message
Relationships
21 Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
Read full chapterThe Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson