Catholic Commentary on Ephesians 5

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25)

Imitators of God

Follow God's example as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Among God's people there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, impurity, or greed. Nor obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place. Let there be thanksgiving instead. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. Therefore: wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Marriage as the Image of Christ and the Church

Paul turns to the household and gives the most theologically profound account of Christian marriage in the entire New Testament. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as you do to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. The standard set for husbands is not cultural leadership but cruciform self-sacrifice. Christ's love for the Church is the measure. This is no call to domination; it is a call to the kind of love that empties itself completely for the beloved. The Catechism calls Christian marriage a sacramental sign of the covenant between Christ and the Church, a covenant of total self-giving love visible in the daily life of two people (CCC 1661).

This is a profound mystery, Paul says, but he is talking about Christ and the Church. The mystery of marriage points beyond itself to the greatest love story in history: the love of the incarnate Son for his bride the Church, given at Calvary, celebrated in the Eucharist, consummated at the end of time.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the standard for husbands in Ephesians 5 is Christ, who gave himself up for the Church. Not cultural authority. Not benevolent leadership. Gave himself up. The question for every husband is not whether he is the head of the household but whether his headship looks like Calvary. And the question for every Christian is whether their love for others has that quality of self-giving that empties itself for the beloved.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you loved the Church and gave yourself up for her. Let husbands love their wives with your love. Let all Christians walk in the way of love as dearly loved children. Wake us from sleep, illuminate our darkness, and make us lights ourselves. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

5
Imitators of God
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, just as Christ loved us * 5:2 NE and WH Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
 
3 But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
 
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Children of Light
 
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. 10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
 
11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,† 5:13 SBL begins verse 14 after visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. 14 So it is said:
 
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
 
15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
 
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wives and Husbands
(Song 1:1–17; 1 Peter 3:1–7)
 
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.‡ 5:21 Or in the fear of Christ.
 
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
 
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
 
28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. 30 For we are members of His body.§ 5:30 BYZ and TR include—of His flesh and of His bones.
 
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.”* 5:31 Genesis 2:24 (see also LXX) 32 This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

*5:2 5:2 NE and WH Christ loved you

†5:13 5:13 SBL begins verse 14 after visible,

‡5:21 5:21 Or in the fear of Christ.

§5:30 5:30 BYZ and TR include—of His flesh and of His bones.

*5:31 5:31 Genesis 2:24 (see also LXX)

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