The Church: The Bride of Christ

Wives and Husbands

²²zWives, asubmit to your own husbands, bas to the Lord. ²³For cthe husband is the head of the wife even as dChrist is the head of the church, his body, and is ehimself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit fin everything to their husbands.

²⁵gHusbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and hgave himself up for her, ²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ithe washing of water jwith the word, ²⁷so kthat he might present the church to himself in splendor, lwithout spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.1 ²⁸In the same way mhusbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because nwe are members of his body. ³¹o“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and pthe two shall become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³However, qlet each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she rrespects her husband.