Passage

Ephesians 5.25

Book: Ephesians · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body. 24. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything."

"25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;"

"26. that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27. that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:23-27, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. 24. But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything."

"25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;"

"26. that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27. that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect." (Ephesians 5:23-27, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."

"25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

"26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:23-27, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"23. because the husband is head of the wife, as also the Christ [is] head of the assembly, and he is saviour of the body, 24. but even as the assembly is subject to Christ, so also [are] the wives to their own husbands in everything."

"25. The husbands! love your own wives, as also the Christ did love the assembly, and did give himself for it,"

"26. that he might sanctify it, having cleansed [it] with the bathing of the water in the saying, 27. that he might present it to himself the assembly in glory, not having spot or wrinkle, or any of such things, but that it may be holy and unblemished;" (Ephesians 5:23-27, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul (as author of Ephesians)
Audience: the Christian community at Ephesus, with the household-code addressed specifically to husbands within that community
Location: Ephesus (audience); Rome (likely composition, Paul's first imprisonment)
Time period: c. AD 60-62

Theological reading

Ephesians 5:25 is the Christological pattern for marriage: husbands are commanded to love their wives kathōs ("just as, in the manner that") Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. The structure is not analogical decoration but normative form, the husband's love is to take the shape of Christ's cruciform self-giving for the bride. The verb ēgapēsen names the covenant-committed-and-self-sacrificial love (cf. G0025 - agapao), not affectional preference; the "gave Himself up" (paredōken heauton) deploys the same verb-construction that names Christ's passion-handover (cf. Rom 4:25; Gal 2:20). The pericope thereby grounds marriage in the gospel, the Christ-church relation is the original, of which human marriage is the icon (cf. Eph 5:31-32, the "mystery" of Gen 2:24 referred to Christ and the church). The verse also internally regulates the headship-instruction of v. 23: headship is defined by Christ's headship-pattern of giving Himself up, ruling out any tyrannical or merely-authoritarian construal of the husband's role.

Key words

G0025 - agapao, agapate / ēgapēsen (to love), the commanding verb of the husband's duty and the indicative of Christ's act
G1577 - ekklēsia (pending), ekklēsia (the church), the corporate referent
G3860 - paradidōmi (pending), paredōken (gave up, handed over), passion-handover language

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.