Ephesians 5:25-28

5:25 Husbands, love your ¹  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ²  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ³  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ⁴  5:28 In the same way ⁵  husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Ephesians 5:33

5:33 Nevertheless, ⁶  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ⁷  and the wife must ⁸  respect ⁹  her husband.

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¹ tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

² tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

³ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

⁴ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

⁵ tn Grk “So also.”

⁶ tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

⁷ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

⁸ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

⁹ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.