Ephesians 5:25

Ephesians 5:25 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
• New International Version (NIV)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
• English Standard Version (ESV)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

Context of Ephesians 5:25

23A husband has authority over his wife, in the same way that Christ has authority over the church. The church is like Christ's body. As its head, he saves her. 24As the church serves Christ as its master, so wives should serve their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. He even agreed to die on its behalf. 26He did that to make us completely clean, as the people of God. It was like he washed us with water, as he brought God's message to us. 27Christ himself did this to bring us to himself as a beautiful group of his people. His church would belong to him completely. It would be pure, without anything bad to spoil it.

Ephesians 5:25 word by word

Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆςRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Husbandsὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Husbandsἀνήρanēr · man: husbandG435
• loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• yourἑαυτοῦheautou · themselfG1438
• wivesγυνήgunē · woman: wifeG1135
• even asκαθώςkathōs · as/just asG2531
• ChristΧριστόςChristos · ChristG5547
• alsoκαίkai · andG2532
• the churchἐκκλησίαekklēsia · assemblyG1577
• gaveπαραδίδωμιparadidōmi · to deliverG3860
• forὑπέρhuper · above/forG5228
• itαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846

Cross-references for Ephesians 5:25

• Ephesians 5:28So husbands should love their wives, just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife shows that he loves himself.
• Genesis 2:24Because of this, when a man marries, he leaves his father and his mother. Instead, God joins the man and his wife together. The two people become as one body.
• Genesis 24:67Isaac took Rebekah into the tent that his mother Sarah had lived in. Rebekah became Isaac's wife. And Isaac loved Rebekah. So Isaac was happy again, after the death of his mother.
• 2 Samuel 12:3But the poor man had only one little female lamb. He had bought it and he had taken care of it. It had grown up with his own children. It ate his bits of food and it drank water from his cup. It even slept while he held it. It was like a daughter for him.
• Proverbs 5:18Enjoy sex with your own wife. May the wife that you married when you were young continue to give you joy.
• Colossians 3:19Husbands, love your wives. Do not bring trouble to them.
• 1 Peter 3:7You husbands must also respect your wives. Be kind to your wife and help her. Remember that she is not as strong as you are. Because God is very kind, she has received his gift of true life, as you have. So you should respect her. Then God will answer you when you pray to him.
• Ephesians 5:2Show that you love other people. Remember how much Christ loved us. He gave himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He offered himself in a way that pleased God, like a sacrifice with a lovely smell.
• Matthew 20:28Even the Son of Man himself came to earth to be a servant to other people. He did not come here to have servants who must work for him. No, he came to die so that many people can be free.’
• Luke 22:19Then he took a loaf of bread and he thanked God for it. He broke the bread into pieces and he gave some of it to each of them. He said, ‘This is my body. I am giving it to save you. When you eat this meal from now on, remember me.’
• John 6:51I am the bread that gives life to people. This bread came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give is my own body. I will give it so that all people in the world may have life with God.’
• Acts 20:28You who are leaders should be careful about how you live. Also take care of the group of people that the Holy Spirit has chosen you to lead. Keep them safe like shepherds who take care of their sheep. All the believers belong to God because his Son, Jesus, died for them. He bought them with his blood which poured out on the cross.
• Galatians 1:4Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice because of all the wrong things that we have done. He did that to save us from all the bad things of this world in which we live now. This is what God, our Father, wanted him to do.
• Galatians 2:20Christ died on the cross on my behalf. It is like I died there with him. So I do not live my own life any more. Instead, Christ lives in me. The life that I live now in my body, I live because I trust what he has done for me. He has loved me so much that he died on my behalf.
• 1 Timothy 2:6He died as a sacrifice on behalf of all people, to pay the debt of their sins. He died at the proper time for God to show his purpose clearly.
• 1 Peter 1:18Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold.

Commentaries on Ephesians 5:25

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 25Husbands, love your wives - Here is a grand rule, according to which every husband is called to act: Love your wife as Christ loved the Church. But how did Christ love the Church? He gave himself for it - he laid down his life for it. So then husbands should, if necessary, lay down their lives for their wives: and there is more implied in the words than mere protection and support; for, as Christ gave himself for the Church to save it, so husbands should…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 25Husbands, love your wives - The duty of the wife is to obey; the right of the husband is to command. But the apostle would guard against the abuse of that right by enjoining the manifestation of such a spirit on the husband as would secure obedience on the part of the wife. He proceeds, therefore, to show, that the husband, in all his conversation with the wife, should manifest the same spirit which the Lord Jesus did toward the church; or, in other…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22-33Verses 22-33 The duty of wives is, submission to their husbands in the Lord, which includes honouring and obeying them, from a principle of love to them. The duty of husbands is to love their wives. The love of Christ to the church is an example, which is sincere, pure, and constant, notwithstanding her failures. Christ gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify it in this world, and glorify it in the next, that he might bestow on all his members…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 25-33Christian husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the church. This means loving sacrificially, for Christ gave up his life for the church (5:2; compare Colossians 3:19; 1 Peter 3:7).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2525. "Thou hast seen the measure of obedience; now hear also the measure of love. Do you wish your wife to obey you, as the Church is to obey Christ? Then have a solicitude for her as Christ had for the Church (Ep 5:23, "Himself the Saviour of the body"); and "if it be necessary to give thy life for her, or to be cut in ten thousand pieces, or to endure any other suffering whatever, do not refuse it; and if you suffer thus, not even so do you do what…Read the comment

Topics related to Ephesians 5:25

• Atonement
• Church
• Husband
• Jesus Continued
• Jesus, the Christ
• Sanctification
• Suffering
• Wife

In the dictionaries

• Christ
• Christ, Messiah
• Arise
• Awake
• Church
• Dear
• Ephesians, Epistle to
• Fellowship
• Flesh
• Fruit

Commentaries on Ephesians 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings