Ephesians 5:21–6:9

Advice to Wives and Husbands

²¹Place yourselves under each other’s authority out of respect for Christ. 

²²Wives, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority as you have placed yourselves under the Lord’s authority.²³The husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. It is his body, and he is its Savior. ²⁴As the church is under Christ’s authority, so wives are under their husbands’ authority in everything. 

²⁵Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. ²⁶He did this to make the church holy by cleansing it, washing it using water along with spoken words. ²⁷Then he could present it to himself as a glorious church, without any kind of stain or wrinkle—holy and without faults. ²⁸So husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹No one ever hated his own body. Instead, he feeds and takes care of it, as Christ takes care of the church. ³⁰We are parts of his body. ³¹That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will be one. ³²This is a great mystery. (I’m talking about Christ’s relationship to the church.) ³³But every husband must love his wife as he loves himself, and wives should respect their husbands. 

6TH CHAPTER

Paul’s Advice to Children and Parents

¹Children, obey your parents because you are Christians.^aThis is the right thing to do. ²“Honor your father and mother ³that everything may go well for you, and you may have a long life on earth.” This is an important commandment with a promise.^b

⁴Fathers, don’t make your children bitter about life. Instead, bring them up in Christian discipline and instruction. 

Paul’s Advice to Slaves and Masters

⁵Slaves, obey your earthly masters with proper respect. Be as sincere as you are when you obey Christ. ⁶Don’t obey them only while you’re being watched, as if you merely wanted to please people. But obey like slaves who belong to Christ, who have a deep desire to do what God wants them to do. ⁷Serve eagerly as if you were serving your heavenly master and not merely serving human masters. ⁸You know that your heavenly master will reward all of us for whatever good we do, whether we’re slaves or free people. 

⁹Masters, treat your slaves with respect. Don’t threaten a slave. You know that there is one master in heaven who has authority over both of you, and he doesn’t play favorites.