Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;" — Ephesians 5:25 (ASV)

Paul turns to the reciprocal duties of the husband. Greco-Roman society held that wives had obligations to their husbands, but not vice versa. Christianity introduced a revolutionary approach to marriage that equalized the rights of wives and husbands and established the institution on a much firmer foundation than ever before. The word that sums up the role of the wife is “submit” (vv.22, 24); the word that does the same for the husband is “love” (GK 26). This is the highest and distinctively Christian word for loving. As over against words for “sexual passion” and “family affection,” Paul chooses a verb that insists that the love of a Christian man for his wife must be a response to and an expression of the love of God in Christ extended to the church (cf. vv.1–2).

The apostle again draws a comparison between the marriage relationship and the relationship of Christ and the church (cf. vv.22–24), this time emphasizing our Lord’s sacrifice. On the cross Jesus gave himself up for the church, his bride. The analogy is all the more telling, since the word for “church” is feminine. This aspect of the atonement does not have much prominence in the NT. While Paul elsewhere declared that Christ laid down his life “for our sins” (Romans 4:25; Galatians 1:4), or “for me” (Galatians 2:20), or “for us all” (Romans 8:32), now he affirms that our Lord’s sacrificial death was “for her,” i.e., for the church.