Wives and Husbands

(Song of Solomon 1:1–17; 1 Peter 3:1–7)

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.[fn]

22 Wives, submit to your[fn] husbands as to the Lord. 23 For [the] husband is [the] head of the wife as Christ [is the] head of the church, and He is [the] Savior of the body.[fn] 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives [should submit] to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing [her] by the washing with water through [the] word, 27 [and] to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such [blemish], but holy and blameless.

28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 Indeed, no one ever hated his [own] body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord[fn] [does] the church. 30 For we are members of His body—of His flesh and of His bones.[fn]

31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[fn] 32 This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as [he loves] himself, and the wife must respect [her] husband.