Ephesians 5

¹Therefore, become imitators of God, as dearly loved children, ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ also loved us and handed himself over on our behalf as an offering and a sacrifice to God, resulting in a fragrant aroma.

³But sexual immorality and any kind of impurity or insatiable craving must not even be named among you, as is proper for those set apart for God. ⁴There must be no obscenity, foolish talk, or crude wit—things which are out of place—but instead, thanksgiving. ⁵For you can be certain of this: no one who is sexually immoral, or impure, or has an insatiable craving (which is to be an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon those who are characterized by disobedience. ⁷Therefore, do not become their partners. ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, justice, and truth), ¹⁰discerning what is well-pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead even expose them. ¹²For the things done by them in secret are shameful even to mention. ¹³But everything exposed by the light is made visible, ¹⁴for everything that is made visible is light. Therefore it says: “Wake up, sleeper, and rise from among the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵So then, look carefully at how you walk—not as the unwise but as the wise, ¹⁶buying up every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷For this reason, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸And do not get drunk on wine, in which there is wild dissipation, but be filled by the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

²¹Submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²²Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, ²³because a husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the assembly—he himself being the Savior of the body. ²⁴But as the assembly submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the assembly and handed himself over for her, ²⁶so that he might set her apart as holy, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the spoken word, ²⁷so that he might present the assembly to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and blameless. ²⁸In the same way, husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but instead provides nourishment and tender care for it, just as Christ does for the assembly, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³²This sacred secret is profound, and I am speaking with reference to Christ and the assembly. ³³Nevertheless, each one of you must love his own wife as himself, and the wife should see to it that she respects her husband.