Ephesians 5

¹Therefore become imitators of God, as beloved children, ²and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and handed himself over for us as an offering and sacrifice to God, a fragrant aroma.

³But sexual immorality and impurity of every kind or greed must not even be named among you, as is fitting for holy ones; ⁴nor obscenity and foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For you know this for certain: no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person—that is, an idolater—has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God's wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷Therefore do not become fellow participants with them. ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—⁹for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth—¹⁰testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹And do not share in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but instead expose them, ¹²for it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret. ¹³But all things, when exposed by the light, are made visible, ¹⁴for everything made visible is light. Therefore it says, “Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵So watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be senseless, but understand what the Lord's will is. ¹⁸And do not get drunk with wine, for that is reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰always giving thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹submitting to one another in the fear of Christ—²²wives to your own husbands as to the Lord, ²³because a husband is the head of his wife as Christ also is the head of the assembly, himself the Savior of the body. ²⁴But as the assembly submits to Christ, so also wives to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the assembly and handed himself over for her, ²⁶so that he might make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that he himself might present the assembly to himself in glory, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this way husbands too ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. The one who loves his own wife loves himself, ²⁹for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the assembly, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹“For this reason a man will leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the assembly. ³³Nevertheless, each one of you must love his own wife as himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Translation notes 8

5:2 — Offering and aroma. The language recalls sacrifices described as a pleasing smell before God. “Handed himself over” is repeated in verse 25. “Us” follows the Greek base in both places in verse 2; some witnesses have “you.”

5:3–6 — Conduct and inheritance. “Must not even be named” forbids such conduct as a feature of the community; it is not a ban on discussing the very practices the letter names. “Coarse joking” concerns degrading or indecent humor in this context. Greed is identified with idolatry. “Sons of disobedience” repeats 2:2's description of people characterized by disobedience.

5:8–14 — Light and exposure. The text says that the readers were darkness and now are light, preserving the force of the image. Verse 9 reads “fruit of the light”; “fruit of the Spirit” is a textual alternative. “Expose” includes bringing wrongdoing to light and showing it to be wrong. The difficult statement that everything made visible is light may imply transformation through exposure. The precise source of the wake-up saying is unknown; it resembles scriptural resurrection and light language and may have been used in early Christian worship.

5:15–18 — Opportunity and the Spirit. “Making the most of the opportunity” renders an expression built on buying up or redeeming the time. Here its force is taking full advantage of the time available. “Be filled by the Spirit” takes the Spirit as the means of filling. “Be filled with the Spirit” is a substantial alternative. The following speaking, singing, thanking, and submitting clauses remain linked to that command.

5:21–24 — Submission and head. The Greek base has no separate verb at verse 22; “wives to your own husbands” draws its verb from “submitting to one another” in verse 21. Some witnesses supply an explicit command. This connection does not erase the distinct instructions to wives and husbands. “Head” retains the body metaphor; authority, prominence, and source or sustaining unity are debated aspects of its meaning. The explicit submission language gives authority a clear contextual place, while the ensuing command to husbands emphasizes self-giving love and care. “In everything” remains unsoftened.

5:25–27 — The assembly as bride. Feminine pronouns preserve the developed wife/bride analogy, not merely the grammatical gender of “assembly.” Washing with water probably alludes to baptism; the “word” may be the accompanying proclamation or confession, but no precise formula is supplied. “With the word” is connected here with cleansing or washing; it can instead qualify “make her holy.”

5:30–32 — Flesh and mystery. Some witnesses add “from his flesh and from his bones” after verse 30; the base does not include those words. Verse 31 quotes Genesis 2:24 in the letter's own wording. The one-flesh relationship is brought into relation with Christ and the assembly; the translation does not replace “mystery” with a later technical sacramental term.

5:33 — Respect and fear. “Respect” translates the verb related to “fear” in verse 21. Here the marital setting favors reverent regard rather than terror. The differing instructions to husband and wife are retained without turning them into identical commands.