Ephesians 5:25-33

5:25 Husbands, love your¹ wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her² with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he³ 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 way⁵ husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 5:29 For no one has ever hated his own body⁶ but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 5:30 for we are members of his body.⁷ 5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become⁸ one flesh.⁹ 5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually¹⁰ speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 5:33 Nevertheless,¹¹ each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself,¹² and the wife must¹³ respect¹⁴ her husband.

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

²tn 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.

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

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

⁵tn Grk “So also.”

⁶tn Grk “flesh.”

⁷tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 0285^vid Ï lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek th" sarko" autou kai ek twn ostewn autou, “of his body and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 pc). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as original.

⁸tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

⁹sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

¹⁰tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

¹¹tn 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).

¹²tn 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.

¹³tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

¹⁴tn 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.