Ephesians 5:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“This sacrament (sacramentum hoc, this holy mystery) is great; but I speak in Christ and in the Church.” Not the whole history of Adam and Eve written in Genesis can easily be referred to Christ and the Church, as many think.

Only what is set forth in the present place can be so referred: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh” (Eph 5:31).

Indeed, the first man and first prophet, Adam, foretold this of Christ and the Church. Namely, our Lord and Savior would leave His Father, God, and His mother, the heavenly Jerusalem.

He would come to earth for the sake of His body, the Church. He formed her from His rib, and for her sake the Word became flesh.

Since not all mysteries are equal, but one is greater and another lesser, the Apostle now says: “This mystery is great.” At the same time, the humility of the speaker is shown.

For he adds, “But I speak in Christ and in the Church.” Gregory Nazianzen, a man most eloquent and excellently instructed in the Scriptures, used to say this when he discussed this passage with me.

“See how great the mystical meaning of this passage is. After explaining it in relation to Christ and the Church, the Apostle does not claim to have spoken in a way worthy of the testimony.

“He speaks rather as if saying: I know that this passage is filled with ineffable holy realities and requires a divine heart in the interpreter.

“But in my faintheartedness, among other things, I suppose that it should be understood in relation to Christ and the Church.

“This is not because there is anything greater than Christ and the Church, but because everything said about Adam and Eve is difficult to interpret concerning Christ and the Church.”

For as the body cannot live without its head, so the Church, the assembly of believers, that is, of the sons of God written in heaven, cannot be a whole and perfect body without her head, Christ our God.

Nor can she live the true and eternal life unless she is fed daily by Him with the daily bread. From Him all who love Him receive true life and grow into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of His fullness.

Since the Church is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the great world, and the temple of God, and since all the saints are members of His body, while not all have yet been born and shown themselves pleasing to God, this is clear.

The body of Christ is not yet wholly complete. The world above has not yet been filled. That is, the whole company of men has not yet entered the Church of God.

Even now there are still many unbelievers in the world who are to believe in Christ. There are many sinners who must repent. There are many disobedient who must submit to Christ.

Many still must be born and please God before the last trumpet sounds. Therefore all those foreknown by God must be born.

The measure of the Church of the firstborn, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above this world, must be filled. Then the fullness of the body of Christ will be completed.

It will receive into itself those predestined by God to be conformed to the image of His Son. These are the sons of light and of the day.

It is the joining of two persons, Christians, into one little Church. Its purpose is the progress of its members in faith and virtue, and the birth and upbringing of children for the higher spiritual life.

It exists for the ordering of the Kingdom of God already here on earth.

Through Baptism a Christian becomes a member of the body of Christ, His Church. In Communion he is mystically united with Christ and becomes a partaker of His Godhead.

Therefore marriage too must lead him to the same high end. It must further the closest union of the members of the Church with one another and with their Head, Christ.

Marriage, as honorable and undefiled (Heb 13:4), truly communicates holiness to spouses and to children born in marriage. This remains true even when one spouse does not belong to the Church (1 Cor 7:14).

But if Christians in marriage were united only carnally, and had in view only earthly aims, then by that very fact they would tear apart their spiritual and mystical union with Christ.

They entered that union with Him in Baptism, and without it they would cease to live the spiritual life. Then marriage would be defilement and a fall.

It would differ in nothing from fornication, or at least from the unmarried cohabitation of two persons. The Apostle so strongly condemns this and persistently contrasts it with honorable and undefiled marriage (1 Cor 6:15-18).

Then marriage could not be an image of the most holy and pure union of Christ with the Church.

“Marriage,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “must not be from passion or from bodies, but wholly spiritual. For in it the soul is joined to God by an ineffable union, as He alone knows.

“Therefore it is said: ‘He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord’ (1 Cor 6:17). Do you see how the Apostle is concerned that flesh be united with flesh and spirit with spirit?”

“He leaves those to whom he has become accustomed and is joined to one whom he did not know before. He prefers her to everything. Truly this is a mystery. So also Christ, leaving the Father, came to the bride, the Church.”

“The first man Adam, as the first prophet, foretold this of Christ and the Church: that our Lord and Savior would leave His Father and God, and His mother, the heavenly Jerusalem.

“He would come to earth for the sake of His body, the Church, and form her from His rib. For this purpose the Word became flesh.

“And since not all mysteries are equal, he now says: ‘This mystery is great.’ Showing also the sign of his humility, he adds: ‘but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.’”

Concerning the Apostle’s repetition of the husband’s duty to love his wife, and the wife’s duty to obey, blessed Theophylact observes: “Although he has taken those words in a mystical sense, this does not annul the law expressed here literally.

“By that law the relations of husband and wife are determined.” “Let the wife fear her husband” means: let her honor and reverence him (Blessed Jerome).

“But what love, they will say, can exist where there is fear? It will exist precisely there. For she who fears and loves fears him as head and loves him as a member, since the head is a member of the whole body.

“For this reason he subordinated her and exalted the husband over her, so that there might be peace.”

“In accordance with Christ, the husband has also received the task not only of loving his wife, but of ordering her life well. ‘Let her be,’ he says, ‘holy and blameless.’ If you make her holy, everything else will follow” (Chrysostom).

Yet as guidance toward this he has already said a few words earlier: Christ nourishes and warms the Church, and we are of His flesh and of His bones. After this it is not difficult to carry the correspondence further. In the words expressing the essence and indissolubility of marriage, one may also see the expression of the mystical union of Christ the Lord with the Church.

In the Incarnation, the Son of God as it were left His heavenly Father, though without being separated from Him. He entered into mystical union with redeemed humanity, the Church, which is likewise from His rib and together with Him forms one.

Chrysostom does indicate a great mystery also in the marital union. Yet for him too the true mystery lies in the Lord's condescension and His union with the Church. He says: "Truly this is a mystery, that a man leaves the one who brought him forth, begot him, and raised him, and the one who conceived him, suffered for him, and bore him in travail.

"He leaves those who bestowed so many benefits upon him, and to whom he was accustomed. He is joined to one whom he had not previously seen, who has nothing in common with him, and he prefers her to everything. Truly this is a mystery.

"The parents do not grieve. On the contrary, they grieve when this does not happen. As a sign of joy, they do not spare money and expenses. Truly this is a great mystery, containing within itself some hidden wisdom."

But Chrysostom said this after he had already indicated in these words the mystery of the union of Christ the Lord with the Church. "I speak," says the Apostle, "with respect to Christ," because He also, having left the Father, came down and came to the bride and became one spirit with her, and she with Him. For "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord" (1 Cor 6:17).

Theodoret writes the same: "Christ Himself, having left the Father above, was joined to the Church. But He left Him according to the concept of His becoming man, because, as God, He is not separated from God, since He Himself also has an uncircumscribed nature." In this lies the mystery.

Blessed Jerome explains this truth more fully: "Not the whole account of Adam and Eve written in Genesis can conveniently be referred to Christ and the Church, as some think. Only what is said in the present passage can be so referred, namely: 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.'

"The first man, Adam, as the first prophet, foretold this concerning Christ and the Church: that our Lord and Savior would leave His Father, God, and His mother, the heavenly Jerusalem. He would come to earth for the sake of His body, the Church, and form her from His rib. For this reason the Word became flesh.

"And since not all mysteries are equal, but one mystery is greater and another smaller, he now says: 'This mystery is great.' Showing at the same time a sign of his humility, he adds: 'but I speak with respect to Christ and the Church.'

"Gregory Nazianzen, a most eloquent man and very learned in Scripture, when we discussed this passage with him, said more than once: 'See what the mystical depth of that little passage is, it seems in Genesis. When the Apostle interprets it with respect to Christ and the Church, he does not assert that he has explained it as the dignity of the testimony requires.

"'Rather, he spoke as though saying: I know that this passage is full of ineffable mysteries and requires from its interpreter a divine heart. But I, according to the smallness of my understanding, think that it should be understood with respect to Christ and the Church.

"'This is not because anything is greater than Christ and the Church, but because it is very difficult to explain everything said about Adam and Eve with respect to Christ and the Church.'"