Wives and Husbands

Paul begins with mutual submission out of reverence for Christ, then speaks of wives in relation to their husbands after the pattern of the church's submission to Christ. He roots this in the husband's relation to the wife as Christ is head and Savior of the church.

S²¹ubmit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Paul tells husbands to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her in order to sanctify and present her in splendor. He says husbands should love their wives as their own bodies, since Christ himself nourishes and cherishes the church, and believers are members of his body.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her ²⁶to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. ³⁰For we are members of His body.

Paul cites the one-flesh union of Genesis and says that this mystery is profound, speaking ultimately of Christ and the church. He closes by restating the practical charge that each husband love his wife and that the wife respect her husband.

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.” ³²This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. ³³Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.