²⁵ Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church [Col. 3:19; 1 Pet. 3:7] and gave himself for her ²⁶ to ·make her holy [sanctify her], cleansing her in the washing of water by the word [^Cthe “washing” may be (1) baptism, (2) spiritual cleansing (Titus 3:5), or (3) an analogy drawn from the Jewish prenuptial bath (Ezek. 16:8–14); the “word” may be (1) the Gospel, (2) a baptismal formula, or (3) the confession of the one baptized]. ²⁷ He did this so that he could present the church to himself ·like a bride in all her beauty [in splendor; glorious], with no ·evil or sin [^Lstain or wrinkle] or any other ·wrong thing in it [^Lsuch thing], but ·pure [holy] and ·without fault [blameless]. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ [^LFor] No one ever hates his own ·body [^Tflesh], but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are ·parts [members] of his body. ³¹ The Scripture says, “·So [For this reason] a man will leave his father and mother and be ·united [joined] with his wife, and the two will become one ·body [flesh; Gen. 2:24].” ³² This ·secret [mystery] is ·very important [or great; profound]—I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ ·But [However; In any case; or To sum up] each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and a wife must ·respect [reverence; v. 21] her husband.