Ephesians 5:21-33
Chapter 5
Husband and Wife
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
The husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is also the Savior.
And as the church submits to Christ, so should a wife submit in everything to her husband.
As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
He cleansed her and made her holy through baptism in the word.
Because he desired a radiant church—without stain, wrinkle, or blemish—but holy and blameless, he had to prepare and present her to himself.
Similarly, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
And no one hates his own body; instead, he nurtures and cares for it. That is exactly what Christ does for the Church
since we are members of his body.
For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
This is a very great mystery, and I am referring to Christ and the church.
As for you, let each one love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband.
Commentaries
The Kingdom of Light.
Light and darkness: here is another image with biblical resonances that Paul uses to exhort the Ephesians to conduct themselves as “children of light,” reminding them that “once you were darkness” (8). Most of Paul’s Christian communities lived in the great cities of the Empire, where the widespread moral decay of the time was most evident and notorious. Paul, in the end, seems to invite the Christian community to remain vigilant, like the wise virgins of the Gospel, waiting for the bridegroom with their lamps lit with hymns and songs inspired by the “night” of the evil times in which they live (Mt 25:1-13).
Husband and Wife.
Paul has been urging unity and harmony within the Christian community. Now, he turns his attention to the family unit, often called the domestic Church, comprising husband and wife, children, and, in those times, slaves as well. The Old Testament depicts God as the husband and the community as his wife, using bold imagery such as Isaiah 62:5: “The joy that a husband finds in his wife, your God will find in you.” The final chapters of Revelation use this same symbolism to conclude the Bible, ending with the wife’s urgent plea to her husband: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20). This biblical imagery vividly illustrates the powerful love relationship between Christ and the Church, with the Church symbolized and made present through the Christian sacrament of marriage.