Ephesians 5:23

23 for a husband is head of the wife, as also the Christ [is] head of the assembly. *He* [is] Saviour of the body.

Ephesians 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ephesians 5:23

For the husband is the head of the wife
(See Gill on 1 Corinthians 11:3).

Even as Christ is the head of the church;
all the elect; (See Gill on Ephesians 1:22). And he is the Saviour of the body; not "of our body", as the Ethiopic version reads, of that part of man, which is called the body; though that indeed is redeemed and saved by Christ, as well as the soul; but "of his body", as the Vulgate Latin version reads; that is, of the church, which is his body; see ( Ephesians 1:23 ) ; of which he is the Saviour; he provides everything for it, preserves and protects it, and has wrought out salvation for it, which every member of it partakes of.

Ephesians 5:23 In-Context

21 submitting yourselves to one another in [the] fear of Christ.

22 Wives, [submit yourselves] to your own husbands, as to the Lord,

23 for a husband is head of the wife, as also the Christ [is] head of the assembly. *He* [is] Saviour of the body.

24 But even as the assembly is subjected to the Christ, so also wives to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,

Footnotes

• [a]. Aner, 'man,' when not the race, and 'husband' are the same word in Greek; but the article is left out here. It is in his character of man, as contrasted with woman, that this headship belongs to him. It is the same word as 'husband' in what follows, only there it has the article.
• [b]. Or 'woman.'