5:27a

to present her to Himself: This is the second purpose Christ gave himself for the church (5:25b). He gave himself for the church in order to present her to Himself.

The picture of marriage continues. The church is compared to a beautiful bride. In a Jewish wedding, the groom’s friend brings the bride to meet the groom at the wedding party. Christ is like the husband or groom, and the church is like his bride. Christ is also like the groom’s friend, because he himself will come and take us and bring us to be with himself.

Usually we give something to another person, not to ourselves. But Paul says that Christ died for the church to present her (the church) to himself. Most commentators think that Paul is talking about what will happen when Christ comes back to earth. He will give us (the church) new bodies and set us free from sin and all that is bad. Then he will take us to be with him, and we will be “radiant…holy and blameless.”

as a glorious church: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as glorious means “beautiful, splendid, radiant.” God will give his people wonderful new life.

Here are some other ways to translate glorious :

radiant (New International Version)
-or-
in all her beauty (Good News Translation)

church: The church refers to the group of all believers in Christ throughout the world. See how you translated church in 5:25b.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

group of all Christ-believers
-or-
Christ’s people
-or-
people who follow Christ
-or-
community of Christ-followers

5:27b

without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish: The words stain, wrinkle, and blemish are figures of speech that represent different kinds of faults and sins. Christ does not want any bad thing to be in his church. He compares his church to a beautiful woman wearing beautiful clean clothes who has no dirt or wrinkles on her clothes and no blemishes (ugly spots) on her skin. That is a comparison of how the church will be: beautiful, perfect, with no sins or faults.

stain: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as stain can also be translated as “spot.” It refers to a small dirty area on a cloth, a rug, etc.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

dirty spot
-or-
soiled clothes

wrinkle: The word wrinkle refers to a small crease, as in some cloth or one’s skin.

blemish: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as blemish is literally “any such things.” It refers back to “stain” and “wrinkle.” This refers to any defects or imperfections. For example:

any other imperfection (Good News Translation)

If it would not be natural or clear in your translation to translate the terms “stain,” “wrinkle,” and blemish, you may want to translate the meaning directly. For example:

have absolutely no fault/lack
-or-
with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it (New Century Version)
-or-
nothing evil would be found against them

5:27c

but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but here marks a contrast between 5:27b and 5:27c. Translate this contrast in a way that is natural in your language.

Here are some other ways to translate this conjunction:

but rather
-or-
instead

holy and blameless: These are the same words Paul used to describe believers in 1:4b.

holy: The word holy here means “pure” or “without sin.” We will be holy/pure, because he made us holy/pure. (In Greek the word “sanctify” in 5:26a is related to the word holy here.)

Here are some other ways to translate holy :

pure (Good News Translation)
-or-
without sin

See holy, Meaning 2 in the Glossary for more information.

blameless: The word blameless means that there is nothing bad in a person’s behavior that God (or other people) could accuse the person of doing. Some other ways to translate blameless are:

without fault (New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)
-or-
innocent

General Comment on 5:27a–c

In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of 5:27b–c. For example:

27a in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty—27c pure and faultless, 27b without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection (Good News Translation)

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