Ephesians 5:27Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Look also at her uncleanness: "Foolish, disobedient." What more shall I say? She was both senseless and blasphemous. Yet, though there was so much evil in her, He gave Himself up for her in her deformity.

He did this as for one beautiful, as for one beloved, as for one worthy of wondrous praise. Marveling at this, Paul said: "For scarcely will one 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 as such, He adorns her and washes her, and He does not refuse to do this. "That He might sanctify her," the Apostle says, "having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word; that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless" (vv. 26-27).

By the washing He washes away her uncleanness. "With the word," he says. With 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 neither "spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing."

Let us also seek this beauty, and we 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 she is unattractive. Hear what Scripture says: "The bee is small among flying creatures, but her fruit is chief among sweet things" (Sir 11:3).

She is God's creation. You are not blaming her, but Him who made her. Of what is the wife guilty? Do not praise her for beauty either. Such praise, such hatred, and even 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 stirs up jealousy and often makes her suspect you of vile deeds.

But, you say, it gives pleasure. For one month or two. At most, for a year, but no further. Through habit this marvel quickly loses its charm. Yet the evils that arise from beauty remain forever: blindness, folly, and pride.

In the pleasure given by the other beauty, there is nothing like this. There love, begun as it should, remains constant, because it is love for beauty of soul, not of body.

Tell me, what is more beautiful than heaven? What is more beautiful than the stars? If you name a body, it is not so white. If you point to eyes, they are not so bright.

When the heavens were created, the angels marveled at them. We marvel at them even now, though not as at the beginning. It is because of habit that we are no longer so struck by them.

Should this not be said still more of a wife? And if sickness comes, everything immediately flies away.

Let us seek in a wife prudence, moderation, and meekness. These are the marks of true beauty. Let us not seek bodily beauty. Let us not reproach her for what does not depend on her.

Rather, 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 lived with beautiful wives and ended life miserably?

On the other hand, how many had wives who were not very comely, and yet lived to deep old age in complete prosperity? Let us destroy the inward filth. Let us tear out inward defects. Let us annihilate the stains of the soul.

God desires such beauty. Let us prepare her to be beautiful for God, not for ourselves. Let us seek neither money nor outward nobility, but nobility of soul.

Let no one think to grow rich through his wife. Such wealth is shameful and disgraceful. In general, let no one seek wealth here. For it is said, "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 wealth from your wife, and you will easily find everything else. Tell me, who, after leaving what is most important, will concern himself with trifles?

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

If we outline a way of life, we likewise do not care how to live without sin. We care how to gain greater profits. 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 drew the Bridegroom. This cannot be said. On the contrary, she was deformed and unclean, as you may learn from what follows.

After saying, "He gave Himself up 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 showed that she was formerly unclean and defiled.

She was defiled not by some slight uncleanness, but by extreme uncleanness. She was stained with stench and smoke, with pus and blood, and with many other such impurities.

Yet He did not turn away from her deformity. He changed her unpleasant appearance, created her anew, corrected her, and forgave her sins. You also must imitate Him.

Even if your spouse commits many sins against you, pardon and forgive them all. Even if you took her as ill-disposed, correct her by kindness and meekness, as Christ corrected the Church.

He not only washed away her uncleanness, but also wiped out 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 neither spot nor 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.

The wonder is not only that He took one ugly, deformed, vile, and old, and did not turn away from her deformity. It is also that He gave Himself up to death for her and bestowed on her ineffable beauty.

More than this, afterward, when He often sees her defiling herself and contracting uncleanness, He does not reject her or remove her from Himself. He continually 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).

For it is not fitting that anything should be united with the most pure and perfect while remaining in impurity and deficiencies. In the words "that she should be holy and without reproach," one may see an indication that the sanctification received in baptism continues throughout life.

There all that is old and disfigured dies, and everything new and pure is given. This grants the possibility of being united to Christ. Thereafter, having been counted worthy of this great good, one must preserve oneself throughout life in holiness and without reproach, in order to preserve union with Christ.

Such is the relation of the Church to Christ. Saint Paul does not draw the parallel of similar relations between husband and wife, leaving each person to do this. His chief aim, to dispose the husband to every loving care for his wife, is achieved by this simple indication.

Our interpreters draw out this parallel. Blessed Jerome mentions that certain heretics abused this passage, attempting to prove that marriage in its ordinary sense is forbidden to Christians. "To such people," he says, "one must answer briefly. If anything is forbidden here by the Apostle, passions are forbidden, impurity and sensual lust, not the holy union.

"The begetting of children in marital union is permitted, but lusts like fornicatorial embraces are condemned in spouses. Reading this, every husband and wife should understand that after conception they ought to practice prayer more than marital pleasures. Among animals this is fulfilled by the law of nature. Among Christians the same should be an act of freedom, so that abstinence may have moral worth and deserve reward."

Blessed Theodoret sees here an indication of care for the wife in general. "Imitate the Master's care. As the Lord showed such care toward the Church, so you also should have the same care toward those who live with you in marriage.

"For Christ the Master did not refuse even to die for His Bride, that He might cleanse her, make her glorious, smooth away from her the traces of former age, and show her free from every blemish. Therefore we also must have the same love for our spouses, and care for them as for our own body."

Chrysostom obliges the husband to pay chief attention to the moral side of his wife, both when choosing her and while living with her. "That He might sanctify her, having cleansed her. This means that she was unclean. This means that she had filthy spots. This means that she was disfigured and worth nothing.

"Whatever wife you may take, your bride will not be as Christ found the Church. She will not be as different from you as the Church was different from Christ. Yet He did not loathe her, nor did He hate her because of her extreme disfigurement.

"Do you wish to know how disfigured she was? Listen to what Saint Paul says: 'for you were once darkness' (Eph 5:8). Do you see her blackness? What is blacker than darkness? What more shall I say? She was foolish and blasphemous.

"Nevertheless, though there was so much evil in her, He gave Himself even for the disfigured one as for a beautiful one, as for a beloved one, as for one worthy of wondrous praise. Having received her as such, He adorns her and washes her, and does not refuse this.

"He not only adorned her, but made her glorious, not having spot or blemish, or anything of the kind. Do not demand from your wife what she does not have. Do you see that the Church received everything from the Lord? Through Him she became glorious. Through Him she became without reproach.

"Do not turn away from your wife because of her unattractiveness. She is God's creation. You are not reproaching her, but Him Who created her. What fault is the wife's? Do not praise her for beauty either. Such praise, such hatred, and even the most passionate love belong to corrupt souls.

"Seek beauty of soul. Imitate the Bridegroom of the Church. Bodily beauty produces great insolence and much folly. It arouses jealousy and often makes one suspect oneself of shameful deeds.

"But, you say, she gives me pleasure. For one month or two, and at most for a year, but no longer at all. On the contrary, through familiarity this marvel soon loses its charm. But what is evil in it remains forever: blindness, folly, and arrogance.

"In the pleasure provided not by this beauty, there is nothing of the kind. There love, begun properly, remains constant, since it is love for beauty of soul and not bodily beauty.

"Therefore let us seek in a wife prudence, moderation, and meekness. These are the signs of true beauty. Let us not seek bodily beauty, nor reproach her much 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 lived with beautiful wives and ended their lives miserably? On the contrary, how many had wives not very comely, yet lived to deep old age in complete prosperity?

"Let us destroy the inner defilement. Let us cleanse the inner deficiencies. Let us remove the stains of the soul. God desires such beauty. Let us prepare her to be beautiful for God, not for ourselves.

"Let us seek neither money nor outward nobility, but nobility of soul. Tell me, who would leave what is most important and care for what is least important? Yet alas, we always do this.

"If we have a son, we do not strive for him to be good, but to find him a rich wife. We do not strive for him to be well-mannered, but wealthy. If we plan a way of life, likewise we do not care how to live without sin, but how to gain more profits. Money has come to mean everything. Therefore everything has been harmed, because we are possessed by this passion."