Paragraph 5:25–33

In the previous paragraph Paul talked about the duties that a wife has toward her husband. In this paragraph, Paul discusses the duties a husband has toward his wife.

5:25a

Husbands, love your wives: Translate this command in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

You married men, each of you should love his wife

See love, meaning 2 in the Glossary for more information.

Your translation should not suggest that Paul is giving approval of a man having more than one wife.

5:25b

just as Christ loved the church: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as just as mean that a husband should love his wife in the same way that Christ loved the church (his people).

loved: The verb loved is in the past tense. But you may want to translate the verb “love” using the present tense “he loves the church” to avoid suggesting that he loved believers only in the past. See love, meaning 1 in the Glossary for more information.

church: The church is the group of all believers in Christ throughout the world. See how you translated church in 5:23b. See church in the Glossary for more information.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

all his followers
-or-
all his people

gave Himself up for her: The verb gave…up means that Christ gave his life for the church, that is, he died for it. See how you translated gave Himself up for (us) in 5:2b.

for her: The pronoun her refers to the church. The Greek pronoun is singular and feminine and it is translated by the English versions as her or “it.” (The Berean Standard Bible uses her here and in 5:26 and 5:27, all referring to the church.)

Since “the church” refers to all people who are believers in Jesus, in many languages it is more natural to use “them” instead of her. For example:

just as Christ loved his group/people and gave himself up for them

In some languages it may be best to use “us (incl.),” so that the readers do not think that Paul was not part of the church:

just as Christ loved us (incl.), his group/people, and gave his life as a sacrifice for us (incl.)

for: the word for means “for the benefit of.” Christ died for the benefit of the church (his people).

Here are some other ways to translate the phrase “for her”:

for your/their good
-or-
thinking of
-or-
in order to save us (incl.) /you

General Comment on 5:25a–b

In some languages, it is more natural to change the order of 25a–b. For example:

25b As Christ loved his people and died so that they would be in a good state, 25a so you men need to love your wives.

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