For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
- NASB For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
- NLT For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church, its savior. Marriage is patterned on Christ's relationship to his people.
Overview
Paul grounds his instruction in the analogy of Christ and the church: the husband's headship mirrors Christ's headship over the assembly. Yet Christ is also 'the savior of the body,' a self-giving headship of love and care, not domination. This sets the tone for the sacrificial love demanded of husbands in verses 25-29.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 11:3–10But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- Col 1:18And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
- Eph 5:25–26Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
- Eph 1:22–23And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- Eph 4:15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
- 1 Th 1:10and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
- Rev 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- 1 Cor 6:13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 5:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.