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Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:24 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.
  • KJV Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
  • BSB Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
  • NASB But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
  • NLT As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

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

As the church submits to Christ, wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. The church's devotion to Christ is the model.

Overview

Paul completes the analogy begun in verse 23: just as the church yields to Christ, so wives are to honor their husbands. 'In everything' is understood within the bounds of obedience to Christ, who is the ultimate Lord. The verse holds out the church's loving submission to Christ as the pattern for the marriage relationship.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Eph 5:33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
  • Col 3:20Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
  • Titus 2:7in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your teaching showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,
  • Titus 2:9Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;
  • Col 3:22Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
  • Exod 29:35“You shall do so to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days.
  • Exod 23:13“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ephesians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ephesians 5:24YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EphesiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 5:24 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.