Ephesians 5:22-33 an Exegesis of Ephesians 5:22-33

Ephesians 5:22-33

An Exegesis of Ephesians 5:22-33

Main Idea

Ephesians 5:22-33 likens the relationship of husband and wife to the relationship of Christ and His Church. The first three verses are imperatives directed to wives: they are told to submit to their husbands in the same way that the Church submits to Christ (Eph 5:22-24). Christ is likened to the head of the Church, and wives are told that their husbands are the heads or superiors of them. If Christ rules over, guides, and directs His Church, wives are reminded that they should expect no less from their husbands and that they should be subject to the men they marry.

The next eight verses are imperatives directed to husbands. Husbands are commanded to love their wives just as Christ loved His Church (Eph 5:25-28). The husband is reminded that just as the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ so too is the wife part of the body of the family, of which the husband is the head and in which the two are one flesh (Eph 5:29-32). Husbands are reminded that no man scorns his own body or abuses his own flesh and so there is no reason that he should scorn or abuse his wife, since she is to be considered the same as his own flesh. The mystery of "two in one flesh" is likened to the mystery of the union of Christ and His Church.

The final verse is a summation and reminder to both husbands and wives: husbands must love and wives must respect (Eph 5:33). Just as Jesus commanded men to love their neighbors as they love themselves, husbands are here commanded to love their wives as they love themselves; and the wife is commanded to respect her husband.

Introduction

One may infer some telling ideas about the nature of man and woman from Ephesians 5:22-33. The most obvious idea is that women require fewer words than men. Indeed, the amount of verses directed toward men in the passage is more than double those directed toward women. It appears in Sacred Scripture as though women are able to intuit the reasons implied in the passage much more easily than men, who must have ideas drawn out for them in detail before submitting their intellects to them and fully embracing the reasons upon which they are to base their actions. This paper will give an exegesis of Ephesians 5:22-33 and show how it illuminates the nature and mystery of man and woman and deepens the beauty, practicality and mission of their matrimonial relationship while providing it with a valuable framework and system of accord.

Context

Historical-Cultural Context: About the Author, Audience, and Their World

The Epistle to the Ephesians was written by St. Paul during his imprisonment in Rome in 63 AD and carried to Asia Minor by Tychicus, where it very likely circulated from Ephesus to Colossae to Laodicea "as a sort of circular letter to the various Christian communities in that part of Asia Minor."

The intended audience of the Epistle to the Ephesians is disputed, but some things are certainly known about the Christians who inhabited Ephesus and the neighboring towns in Asia Minor. St. Paul himself had evangelized Ephesus (which was considered to be "the chief city of western Asia Minor") a decade prior to the writing of the Epistle.

The Ephesian Christians had then catechized Laodicea. Therefore, most of the converts had been pagan Gentiles; few had been Jews. This may explain the lack of references to the Hebrew Old Testament.

As for St. Paul, to him are attributed thirteen epistles -- if not written by his hand then at least under his direction. His conversion from a Jewish persecutor of Christians to Christian Apostle is one of the most dramatic conversion stories in all of history. Such drama is infused in his writings, in his works, and in his travels. A missionary who traveled widely to spread the news of Christ, Paul brought with him his own passionate style and zeal and applied it in several different ways, always striving to reach a particular audience in the way it needed to be reached. Living in a world ruled by Romans, it should be no surprise that authority as depicted in this Epistle is distinctly patriarchal. Patriarchy was very important to the ancient world.

Literary Context: How the Passage Contributes to the Flow

The letter to the Ephesians, written around 63 AD by St. Paul to the Gentile converts in western Asia Minor, is composed in the epistolary narrative tradition and may be divided into two main sections (Doctrinal and Moral), each with three distinct parts. The Doctrinal section is first, follows the initial introduction, and includes the idea that "the Church is One with Christ," that Paul himself has been commissioned by God to preach the Mystery of Redemption, and that Paul is praying for the brethren. The Moral section is next and it includes a general explanation of what it means to be Christian, the governance of the Christian home (in which is found Eph 5:22-33), and the character of Christian Warfare, which is a spiritual war. The focus of this exegesis, Paul's admonition to husbands and wives, contributes to the flow and character of the Epistle by illustrating the "abstract, profound, and systematic" ideas concerning Christ, the Church, and Christian living.

The major theme of the Epistle is like that of the Epistle to the Colossians, however, it is deeper, fuller, and more systematic in its approach. The Church is defined as the Mystical Body of Christ, through which Christians (members of the body) receive graces as they come from God through the Head of the Body which is Christ. The theme of starting a new and fresh life in the Mystical Body is emphasized as well. The major characters of Ephesians are the receivers of the letter themselves: the husbands, wives, slaves, and masters, children, and parent: all are called to put on the armor of God, which will serve them well in the battle to be fought for their souls. No major events are recorded in Ephesians, but the Epistle touches on the adoption of Christian morality, and explicitly touches upon the ideas at the foundation of the Christian marriage.

Content

The Epistle to the Ephesians in a Social, Natural, and Literary Context

Any exegesis of Ephesians 5:22-33 must be rooted in the historical-cultural context of the Epistle itself. It is important, therefore, to divorce neither the passage from the intention of writer (St. Paul) nor from the whole Epistle in which it is situated (nearly at its heart, in fact). St. Paul's intention should be clear in a general sense (the further instruction and enlightenment of the Gentile converts in Asia Minor) and in a specific sense (the solidification of the faithful through the transmission of a rational, systematic acknowledgment the Faith in the then contemporary real world). Just as slavery (which is not lauded "as an institution" but humbly accepted as a fact of then contemporary life) is treated on by St. Paul following the instruction to husbands and wives, the reality of the relationship between men and women in matrimony is treated on without any pretense of what today may be called political correctness.

Socially speaking, St. Paul simply obliges husbands and wives to recognize their roles, positions, and duties according to both their natures and their respective relationship in the larger Mystical Body, of which they serves as figures.

Likewise, just as the doctrinal first half of the Epistle presents the foundation for the moral second half of the Epistle, Eph 5:21 serves as a kind of foundation for the passage that follows. Eph 5:21 provides the appropriate literary context for understanding the verses 22-33; it is a single command, under which all of the following commands may in the passage may be situated: "Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." The important phrase is "to one another," which emphasizes the fundamental rule of servitude, placed by Christ upon his Apostles. St. Paul similarly places it upon all Christians, even husbands and wives, who are clearly expected to serve and be subject to one another (despite the following imperatives explicitly directed toward wives indicating that they should be subject to their husbands). Since this imperative precedes the commands issued to wives, it acts as an overall rule -- a cautionary guide indicating the direction in which Eph 22-33 must be taken.

St. Paul is not licensing men to be tyrannical governors of women, and Eph 5:21 shows that. Husbands and wives are to be subject to one another -- Eph 5:22-33 shows just how they are to be subject to one another; for, indeed, they are to be subject to one another in very different ways. Wives are to be subject to husbands by way of respect, and husbands are to be subject to wives by way of love. This admonition clearly points to a difference in the nature and character of men and women. Women, it would seem, need love more than respect while men, on the other hand, require respect more than love.

The Idea of Marriage,

As Clinton E. Arnold observes, St. Paul's idea of Christian marriage in Eph 22-33 is founded upon "a number of assumption that he had about husbands and wives derived from Scripture and informed by the implications of the new covenant in Christ."

Having simply observed the fact of the creation of man and woman by God in the image of God (Gen 1:27), St. Paul sets the stage for the idea that men and women should reflect God in His actions. Thus, the idea of sacrifice is written into Eph 22-33 by way of extended analogy. Christ sacrifices Himself for the Church: So too must man and wife be willing to sacrifice themselves for the Family. In this sense, the woman must sacrifice her will or, as St. Paul states, submit her will to her husband; and the man must sacrifice his Ego or self-love, and give love to his wife.

St. Paul cushions this last directive (unless men prove too sensitive that they reject the doctrine) by asserting that "he who loves his own wife, loves himself" (Eph 5:29). The man is thus comforted (to a degree) by the thought that he is not losing his Ego but rather enhancing it. However, such an explanation need not be accepted unconditionally. The point is that a man ought to be willing to "deny themselves in the grind of daily life, put their wives first, and demonstrate love in tangible ways that may interfere with other conflicting desires of a lesser priority."

The Husband's Mission

St. Paul is careful to couch his directives toward men in terms of rational explanation, analogy, and orthodoxy. St. Paul's appeal to orthodoxy plays a major role in establishing the passage in men's minds as a duty. He does so with the very first verse directed to men: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word; in order that he might present to himself the Church in all her glory, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and without blemish" (Eph 5:25-27). In these three verses are found the whole of the justification for St. Paul's command to husbands -- and, as has just been stated, that justification is grounded in orthodoxy, the doctrine of the Church as preached by the Apostles.

An examination of these three verses reveals the husband's mission (and it is indicative of St. Paul's understanding of man's nature that the command may be taken in fact as a "mission"). First, the husband must be Christ-like in his love for his wife. This means that his love cannot be sentimental but, on the contrary, deep and principled. It should be sacrificial (Eph 5:25), since Christ "gave himself up" for His Church (of whom the wife is a symbol). Furthermore, the objective is clear: the husband must give himself up for the wife not so that she may rule over him but so that he may "make her holy" through his example of self-sacrifice, which in turn acts as a kind of baptism ("cleansing her by the washing with water through the word") and draws her into the mystery of the Redemption. It is clear that St. Paul gives the man an extraordinary mission, illustrating both the reality (Christ) of the mission and its goal (sanctification). St. Paul's subsequent appeal to common sense ("After all, no one ever hated their own body") is a further attempt to encourage the husband in his mission of loving self-sacrifice.

Relying upon Scripture to Direct Husbands

Reminding the husband that his wife is his own flesh (Gen 2:24), St. Paul relies upon the facts of divine revelation recorded in the Hebrew Old Testament. The sense that the Gentile converts of Asia Minor had no traditional foundation in the Old Testament is irrelevant, for the facts of the Old Testament are incontestable: God made man and woman with a specific purpose in mind.

St. Paul uses this fact as a final thrust in his imperative to husbands, implying that his command is not his own but comes indeed from God Himself (and, moreover, has been decreed since the first man and woman were created). Ernst Kasemann, on the other hand, asserts that the Old Testament plays little part in Ephesians.

While this may be true for Ephesians as a whole, it is undeniable that St. Paul's foundation for his approach to Christian marriage is conceived in Genesis.

St. Paul thus illustrates that his teaching is nothing new or novel but is rather as old as humanity. Now that Christ has come, it has been given a new dimension -- one that deepens the relationship and evokes the Mystery of Christ and His Church. Thus, husbands are not only given a mission -- but they are also given a mystery which they might contemplate as they execute their mission. St. Paul indeed takes very good care to provide for husbands, further illuminating his understanding of man's nature, which craves mental exercise just as much as it craves physical exercise.

Relying upon Simplicity to Direct Wives

St. Paul has to jump through no such hoops in his attempt to instruct the wives. He is clear, precise, and practical with them. His understanding of womankind is clearly present: she requires no in depth analysis or appeal to patriarchy or common sense. On the contrary, it appears that St. Paul expects her to grasp almost at once the veracity and practicality of his words to her: "Let wives be subject to their husbands as to the Lord; because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church, being himself savior of the body. But just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to their husbands in all things" (Eph 5:22-24). Here, in these three verses is contained all that St. Paul means to say to wives. The message is direct and without ambiguity. Its efficacy and place in the greater totality of the Mystery of Redemption is not expounded upon for St. Paul knows there is no need, for the woman by her very nature intuits all of this. Therefore, St. Paul wastes no time with words, which, apparently, the wife already understands.