ACC ~ Ephesians 5 v28 - 33

OVERVIEW:

Paul now turns to the moral implications of husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church and loving their wives as their own bodies (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). Unlike Marcion he commends the body and even the flesh (DIDYMUS THE BLIND, TERTULLIAN), which God loves as its Creator (PSEUDO-AUGUSTINE). The infirm flesh is to be cared for (DIDYMUS THE BLIND), not cut off (CHRYSOSTOM). As we bear with the defects of our own bodies, so do we bear with infirm members of Christ’s church (CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORET). In Genesis 2:24 Adam and Eve prefigure Christ and the church (JEROME). Paul stresses the inviolability of marriage (THEODORET). He justifies spiritual interpretations of Scripture (DIDYMUS THE BLIND) and does not try to exhaust the meaning of the analogy (JEROME), which applies both to Christ (AUGUSTINE) and to the soul (FULGENTIUS). Nonetheless, even though his incarnation and passion are the mysteries signified here (METHODIUS), wedlock itself is both sacred (AUGUSTINE) and a symbol of divine providence (TERTULLIAN). Love coexists with reverence in an ordered home (MARIUS VICTORINUS, CHRYSOSTOM).

5:28 | How Husbands Should Love Their Wives

SO OUGHT HUSBANDS LOVE. CHRYSOSTOM: Has he moved on to a greater image and a more vivid illustration? No, but to something more homely and plainer, with a different justification. Now he takes up the argument from a moral point of view, saying “so ought husbands love their wives.” HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 20.5.28.

HUSBANDS LOVE THEIR WIVES AS THEIR OWN BODIES. AUGUSTINE: The example proceeds to wives from the church and to husbands from Christ. … He urges the husbands on the basis of something inferior, namely, their own body, not only from the superior, that is, their Lord. ON CONTINENCE 23.

5:29 | Nourishing and Cherishing One’s Flesh

THE ERROR OF MARCION HINGED ON HATRED OF THE FLESH. TERTULLIAN: “No one,” he says, “hates his own flesh”—excepting only Marcion, obviously—“but he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church.” But you [Marcion] are the only one who hates it, since you deprive it of resurrection. So you also hate the church. But Christ loved the flesh, as seen in his love for the church. The point is that as no man hates his own flesh so he does not hate his own wife but indeed acts to preserve, honor and crown her. AGAINST MARCION 5.18.9.

NO ONE HATES HIS OWN FLESH. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: When the apostle asks “whoever hated his own flesh?” what is meant by flesh? Flesh is to be taken care of, “nourished and fostered.” Flesh here refers to the body yoked to the rational soul, as is clear [from the previous verse]. ON ZECHARIAH 1.169.

THE HEALTHY MEMBER OF THE BODY DOES NOT CUT OFF THE LAME MEMBER. CHRYSOSTOM: It is all too evident that our bodies have many defects. One is lame, one has crooked feet, another a withered hand, each a weakness in a different member. Nevertheless the person does not complain or cut off the defect. Rather he often treats it better than the other members—and all this quite reasonably, since it is his own. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 20.5.31.

GOD, WHO MADE THE BODY, LOVES IT. PSEUDO-AUGUSTINE: The purpose of God cannot be undone, nor can anyone make a better provision than God already has. God made the body. No workman loves another’s work better than his own. Hence the apostle says “no one hates his own flesh.” QUESTIONS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 127.31.

5:30 | Members of Christ’s Body

TO BE A MEMBER OF CHRIST’S BODY IS TO BE FASHIONED FROM HIM. THEODORET: Just as Eve was fashioned from Adam, so were we from Christ the Lord. We are buried with him in baptism. We rise with him. We eat his body and drink his blood [in the Eucharist]. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 5.30.

5:31a | Leaving One’s Father and Mother

EVE PREFIGURES THE CHURCH AS MOTHER OF ALL THE FAITHFUL. JEROME: The same allegorical interpretation applies both to Christ and to the church, that Adam is to prefigure Christ and Eve the church. For “the last Adam was made a lifegiving spirit.” Just as the whole human race is born from Adam and his wife, so the whole multitude of believers has been born of Christ and the church. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 3.5.31.

IN THE INCARNATION THE SON LEFT THE FATHER AND CLEAVED TO HUMANITY, BECOMING ONE FLESH WITH THE CHURCH. AUGUSTINE: If Christ cleaved to the church so that they became one flesh, in what way did he “leave” his Father? In what way did he “leave” his mother? He left his Father in the sense that, when he was in the form of God he … emptied himself, assuming the form of a slave. … That means that he left the Father, not by deserting him or withdrawing from him but by coming to humanity in a lowly form in which he temporarily divested his glory with the Father. TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.10.

5:31b | Becoming One Flesh

AS ONE CHILD COMES OUT OF TWO. THEODORET: You are to respect the first law [of creation], he says in effect, which was laid down along with the fashioning of the woman and implanted in human nature. … This is the fruit of marriage: One child comes of two partners. The apostle, having recalled the holy requirement of marriage [that the two shall become one flesh], shows that this is illustrated also in the spiritual marriage. He not only demonstrates it but virtually shouts it out. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 5.31.

5:32a | A Profound Mystery

THE HIGHER MYSTERY. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: We find frequently in the writings of the blessed Paul principles conducive to a higher (anagogic) interpretation. This is evident when he writes “This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and his church.” ON GENESIS 102.

HUMILITY REQUIRED IN INTERPRETING PASSAGES THAT POINT TO PROFOUND MYSTERY. JEROME: Gregory of Nazianzus, a very eloquent man and outstandingly versed in the Scriptures, used to say while discussing this passage with me: See how great the promise in this passage is! The apostle, interpreting it as an analogy of Christ and the church, does not himself even profess to have expounded it as the dignity of the idea demanded. He is in effect saying: “I know that this analogy is full of ineffable promises. It requires a divine heart in its interpretation. But in the weakness of my understanding I can only say that in the meantime it should be interpreted as Christ in relation to the church. Nothing is greater than Christ and the church. Even all that is said of Adam and Eve is to be interpreted with reference to Christ and the church.” EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 3.5.32.

CLEAVING TO CHRIST IS LIKE CLEAVING TO A SPOUSE IN WEDLOCK. FULGENTIUS: Any soul that cleaves faithfully to Christ is like a wife living faithfully with her husband. Even in chaste wedlock she may grieve the mind of her husband. But she preserves the faith of the marriage bed with chaste purity. Prudently and temperately she orders the husband’s household. Even while she falls short of meeting his needs she lives chastely and faithfully with him. Though human infirmity often causes her to transgress against him, conjugal chastity makes her cleave with pleasure to her husband. ON THE INCARNATION 41.

5:32b | The Mystery Refers to Christ and the Church

GREAT MYSTERIES IN THE EYES OF THE APOSTLES ARE SMALL IN THE EYES OF HERETICS. TERTULLIAN: Small in the eyes of heretics but great in the eyes of the apostles are the Creator’s works. Of just such a great mystery the apostle speaks when he says: “But I speak of Christ and the church.” He says this to confirm the mystery, not to undermine it. He shows us that the mystery was prefigured beforehand by the One who is the author of the mystery. AGAINST MARCION 5.18.10.

CHRIST WILLINGLY DIED FOR HIS SPOUSE, THE CHURCH. METHODIUS: The apostle’s aim was not amiss when he compared the first condition of Adam with that of Christ. It is a perfectly accurate analogy: the church is generated from Adam’s bones and flesh. For her sake the Word left his Father in heaven. He came down to be bonded with this woman, the church. Then he fell into the sleep of his passion. He willingly died for her. … He did this to make her ready for the blessed seed which he himself sows secretly in her, which she cherishes in the depth of her soul. The seed is sown that the church might receive it and fashion it like a woman, to bring forth and foster excellence. SYMPOSIUM 3.8.71.

WHETHER THE GREATER MYSTERY IS THE RELATION OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH OR MAN AND WOMAN. AUGUSTINE: The apostle speaks of a great mystery in the relation of Christ and the church. That which is great in respect of Christ and the church may seem less auspicious in the relation between husbands and wives. But in marriage it still represents the mystery of an inseparable bond. ON MARRIAGE AND CONCUPISCENCE 1.23.

5:33a | Loving One’s Wife as Oneself

THE SAME PRECEPT APPLIED TO THE EPHESIANS. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Already he has given instructions generally to men concerning their wives and to women concerning their husbands. He now applies the same principles specifically to the Ephesians. … He has added the connecting word however. This shows that even as Christ and the church are one body, so are husband and wife one flesh. The husband’s maxim is to love his wife as if she were his own flesh. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.33.

5:33b | Respecting One’s Husband

HOW LOVE AND RESPECT REINFORCE EACH OTHER. CHRYSOSTOM: How, one may say, is there to be love when there is respect? Love is most powerfully present when accompanied by respect. For what she loves she also reveres, and what she reveres she also loves. She reveres him as the head and loves him as a member of the whole body. God’s purpose in ordering marriage is peace. One takes the husband’s role, one takes the wife’s role, one in guiding, one in supporting. If both had the very same roles, there would be no peace. The house is not rightly governed when all have precisely the same roles. There must be a differentiation of roles under a single head. OMILY ON EPHESIANS 20.5.33.