Chapter 5
1 Hence, be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a sacrificial offering whose fragrance is pleasing to God.
Sins To Avoid. 3 Indeed, fornication and impurity of any kind, as well as greed, should not even be mentioned among you. Such talk is not fitting for saints. 4 You should never engage in any obscene or foolish or suggestive conversation. All this is completely out of place. Instead, you should rather be engaged in offering thanks to God.
5 You can be absolutely certain that no immoral or impure person or one who is greedy—that is, an idolater—will have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no one deceive you with worthless arguments. These are the very things that bring down the wrath of God on those who are disobedient. 7 Do not associate with them.
Christians Are Children of Light. 8 Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, 9 for light produces all goodness and righteousness and truth. 10 Discern what the Lord finds pleasing. 11 Take no part in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather seek to expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of what deeds people do in secret. 13 However, everything that is exposed by the light is made visible, 14 and whatever is made visible is light. Therefore, it is said,[a]
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Therefore, take care to live as intelligent people, and do not be like those who are senseless. 16 Make the most of the present time, for this is a wicked age. 17 Do not be foolish, but recognize what is the will of the Lord. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which can lead to debauchery.
Rather, be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with one another. Sing and chant to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ and Christian Spouses[b]
Be Subject to One Another in Christ. Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24 Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives must be subject to their husbands in everything.25 Love One Another in Christ. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her 26 in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word,[c] 27 in order to present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but holy and without the slightest blemish.
28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body; rather, he nourishes it and cares for it, even as Christ does for the Church, 30 because we are members of his body.
31 For this reason
a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery. Here I am applying it to Christ and the Church. 33 However, each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
Footnotes
- Ephesians 5:14 It is said: the text cited was probably taken from an early Christian liturgical hymn (see also Isa 26:19; 60:1).
- Ephesians 5:21 Christianity promotes, in community and in family, a new kind of relationship that is marked by humility and mutual submission. Here is a practical essay on the subject. The Old Testament had a lofty idea of marriage and liked to use the image of spouses to suggest God’s faithful love for his people (Ps 45; Song 1:3; Isa 54:4, 8; 62:4-5; Ezek 16; Hos 1:3).
21
In the same tradition, Christians compare the relationship of Christ and the Church with a marriage (Mt 9:15; 22:2-4; 25:1-13; Jn 3:29; 2 Cor 11:2; Rev 19:7; 21:2-9). Here Paul goes even further: marriage as such is related to the mystery of Christ and the Church; the reciprocal love of Christ and the Church becomes the foundation and model for the life of spouses, who ought to be a sign and manifestation of that reciprocal love. There is a profound connection between the oneness of marriage and the oneness of Christ with the Church; the former reveals the ultimate intention of the creator when he created the human couple: an intention that the first generation of Christians saw in the text of Gen 2:24 (see Mt 19:5; Mk 10:8; 1 Cor 6:16-17). Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Ephesians, following the same theological line of thought, gives us one of the finest passages on the mystery of the Church and the spirituality of marriage. Paul’s ideas on marriage may be completed by a reading of 1 Cor 7:1-14 and Col 3:18-19. - Ephesians 5:26 Cleansing her with water and the word: a reference to Baptism (pouring of water and sacramental formula). Perhaps Paul had in mind the Oriental practice in the purification of a wife.