Bible Strands
Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses the Ephesian church, specifically husbands and wives, at the moment of defining marital roles within the assembled believers.
The words — The Greek term κεφαλὴ (kephalē) literally means "head," functioning here as a structural marker that establishes the parallel between human marriage and divine reality.
The thread — This headship framework recurs in 1 Corinthians 11:3, Colossians 1:18, and Ephesians 1:22, consistently linking Christ's authority over the church to human relational structures.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to align the husband's role with Christ's authority and care, demanding a structural correspondence between human marriage and the church's submission to Christ.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
- Ephesians 1:22 And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
- Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
- Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- 1 Corinthians 6:13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.