Ephesians 5:26Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What more shall I say? She was both mindless and blasphemous. Yet, despite her many evils, He gave Himself even for the ugly one as for a beautiful one, as for a beloved one, as for one worthy of wondrous praise.

Marveling at this, Paul said: "For scarcely will anyone die for a righteous man" (Rom 5:7). And again: "Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Rom 5:8).

Having received her in such a state, He adorns her, washes her, and does not refuse to do this. "That He might sanctify her," says the Apostle, "having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word."

"That He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless" (Eph 5:26-27).

By the washing He cleanses her impurity. "With the word," he says. What word? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

He not only adorned her, but made her glorious, having no "spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Therefore let us also seek this beauty, and we too shall be able to become its creators.

Do not demand from your wife what she does not have. Do you see that the Church received everything from the Master? Through Him she became glorious. Through Him she became blameless.

Do not turn away from your wife because of her unattractiveness. Listen to what Scripture says: "The bee is small among flying creatures, but her fruit is the best of sweet things" (Sir 11:3).

She is God's creation. You are not reproaching her, but Him who created her. Of what is the wife guilty? Do not praise her for beauty either.

Such praise, such hatred, and such passionate love belong to corrupt souls. Seek beauty of soul. Imitate the Bridegroom of the Church.

Bodily beauty produces great arrogance and much foolishness. It arouses jealousy and often makes you suspect foul deeds. But, you say, it gives pleasure.

For one month or two, perhaps for a year at most, but no further. Through habit, this marvel quickly loses its charm.

But the evils that come because of beauty remain forever: blindness, folly, and pride. In the pleasure provided by the other beauty, there is nothing of the kind.

There love, having begun rightly, remains constant, as love for beauty of soul and not of body.

Tell me, what is more beautiful than heaven? What is more beautiful than the stars? You may speak of the body, but it is not so white. You may point to the eyes, but they are not so bright.

When the heavens were created, the angels marveled at them. We also marvel at them now, though not as we did at first. This comes from habit, that we are no longer so struck by them.

May this not be said even more about a wife? If illness befalls her, everything at once flies away. Let us seek in a wife prudence, moderation, and meekness. These are the signs of true beauty.

Let us not seek bodily beauty. Let us not reproach her for what does not depend on her. Better still, let us not reproach her at all, for this belongs to insolence.

Let us not be grieved or indignant. Do you not see how many men lived with beautiful wives and ended their lives miserably? On the contrary, how many had wives who were not very attractive, yet lived to deep old age in complete well-being?

Let us wipe away the inner filth. Let us tear out the inner defects. Let us destroy the stains of the soul. God desires such beauty. Let us prepare her to be beautiful for God, and not for ourselves.

Let us seek neither money nor external nobility, but nobility of soul. Let no one think to become rich through his wife. Such wealth is shameful and disgraceful.

In general, let no one seek wealth here. For it is written: "Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Tim 6:9).

Do not seek great money from your wife, and you will easily find everything else. Tell me, who, leaving what is most important, will care for what is least important?

But alas, we always act in this way. If we have a son, we do not strive for him to be good, but to find him a rich wife.

We do not care that he be well-mannered, but that he be rich. If we sketch out a way of life, we likewise do not care how to live without sin, but how to acquire more profit.

Money has come to mean everything. For this reason everything has been damaged, because we are possessed by this passion.

But let us see whether the beauty of this bride and the virtue of her soul attracted the Bridegroom. This cannot be said. On the contrary, she was ugly and unclean, as you can learn from what follows.

After saying, "He gave Himself for her," the Apostle added: "that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water" (Eph 5:26).

By the words "having cleansed," he expressed that previously she was unclean and defiled. Not with a slight impurity, but with extreme uncleanness, because she was defiled by stench and smoke, pus and blood, and many other such impurities.

Yet He did not turn away from her ugliness. He changed her unpleasant appearance, recreated her, corrected her, and forgave her sins.

You too must imitate Him. Even if your wife has committed many sins against you, release and forgive them all. Even if you have taken her without good character, correct her by kindness and meekness, as Christ corrected the Church.

He not only washed away her impurity, but also erased her old age, destroying the old man composed of sins. Expressing this also, Paul says: "that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, having no spot or wrinkle" (Eph 5:27).

He made her not only beautiful, but also young, not according to the properties of the body, but according to the disposition of the will.

And it is not only wondrous that He took one unbeautiful, disfigured, foul, and old, and did not turn away from her ugliness, but gave Himself over to death for her and granted her ineffable beauty.

It is also wondrous that even afterward, when He sees her often defiling herself and receiving impurity, He does not reject her or set her away from Himself. He constantly heals and corrects her.

Tell me, how many people sinned after receiving the faith? Yet He did not turn away from them. For example, among the Corinthians, the fornicator was a member of the Church, but God did not cut him off. He corrected him.

The whole Church of Galatia fell away and lapsed into Judaism. Yet He did not reject her. Having healed her through Paul, He restored her to her former state.

Therefore the love by which Isaac loved his wife Rebecca must be understood as holy. Her name means patience. From Mesopotamia, surrounded on every side by the rivers of this age, he brought her into the land of promise, that she might comfort him after his mother's death.

Here He softened the bitterness caused by the end of the synagogue through union with the Church. In saying this, we give occasion for objection from heretics, who think that every marital union must be rejected. They especially make use of this passage.

But one must answer them briefly. In this place the Apostle forbids passion, impurity, and incontinence between husband and wife, not the holy union. Otherwise, if he altogether forbade marital union, why would he say, "your own wives"? He could have said, "Husbands, love women," or simply, "wives."

The word "your own" properly indicates marital union. This is still clearer in the words that follow: "Husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies" (Eph 5:28). It is clearer still: "He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it" (Eph 5:29).

For by the ordinance of the ancient law, and by its restoration in the Gospel, husband and wife become one flesh. Thus, as we have said, in marriage a concession was made for the sake of childbearing. But the pleasures obtained from the embraces of mistresses are condemned in spouses.

When reading this, every husband and every wife should understand that after conception they ought to serve prayer more than marital intercourse. Among animals and beasts, this is determined by the very law of nature: those who are to give birth do not mate until birth itself. Among human beings it is left to freedom, so that there may be a reward for them through abstinence from pleasures.

But since, in the figurative sense, we have said that husbands are souls and wives are bodies, it must be said that the soul should love the flesh, or body, as Christ loves the Church. It should give itself for its salvation and sanctify it by the word of teaching. Thus it may present it to itself without defilement or any habit of the old man, especially when it knows that in the resurrection it must be saved and shall see the salvation of God.

Such a husband has Christ as his head. When, humbling himself for the salvation of the flesh, he becomes one flesh with his wife, he will draw her away toward the spirit. And having been joined to the Lord, he will cease to be flesh.

It is also beautiful that, when speaking of marital union, he used the terms spot and blemish, wrinkle, ruga, to define the beauty of the Church. He took them from the example of women.

Indeed, dark spots often appear on women's bodies, wrinkles gather, and freckles become variegated. These are a matter of great concern for women, prompting them to remove everything that seems unclean and to present the body to their husbands in its beauty.

So also souls must be cleansed from every sinful impurity. Then the wrinkle of the old man will be smoothed out by youth, and day by day the soul will be renewed into the new man.

“Imitate the Master’s care. Show toward those who live with you in marriage the same care that the Lord showed toward the Church. For Christ the Master did not refuse even to die for His bride, in order to cleanse her, make her glorious, smooth away the traces of old age, and show her free from every vice. Therefore you too must have the same love for your spouses and take care for them as for your own body” (Blessed Theodoret).

“Do not turn away from your wife because of her lack of attractiveness. She is God’s creation. Do not praise her for beauty either. Such praise, such hatred, and even passionate love belong to corrupt souls. Seek beauty of soul. Imitate Christ the Bridegroom. Let us seek neither money nor outward nobility, but nobility of soul.”

“But how is the wife the husband’s flesh? Listen: ‘Behold now,’ Adam says, ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ (Gen 2:23). Eve is flesh from Adam’s flesh.”

“As the whole human race was born from Adam and Eve, so from Christ and the Church is born the whole multitude of believers. Forming one body, it is again placed into Christ’s side, having become one flesh with Him.”

“The Lord Himself prayed about this: ‘That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us’ (Jn 17:21)” (Chrysostom).

The content of these verses is clear. The Lord gave Himself for the Church, consenting to suffer death on the Cross.

The Lord gave Himself in this way “that He might sanctify” the Church, or all believers, through the sanctification of each Christian.

In what manner? By “cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,” that is, by holy Baptism.

In Baptism, together with the threefold immersion in water, the words are pronounced: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” These are the visible acts of holy Baptism.

Invisibly, however, the one baptized is immersed into the death of Christ. He receives remission of sins and dies entirely to sinful life.

Then, rising out of the water, he partakes of the power of Christ’s Resurrection and is reborn to a new, spiritual, and holy life.

The baptized person, not in name only but essentially, is clean and holy. This happens with each one, and therefore with all who approach the Lord, with the whole Church.

The whole Church is holy, having passed through the cleansing and sanctifying laver of regeneration.