Ephesians 5:28

οὕτως ὀφείλουσιν [καὶ] οἱ ἄνδρες ἀγαπᾷν τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας : even so [also] ought husbands to love their own wives. The reading and the order vary somewhat. The ὀφείλουσιν precedes οἱ ἄνδρες in most manuscripts, [656] 2 [657] [658] 17, etc.; in others ([659] [660] [661] [662], etc.) it follows it. Lachm. prefers the latter; TrWHRV the former. The TR, supported by [663] [664] [665], etc., omits καί; which is inserted, however, before οἱ ἄνδρες by [666] [667] [668] [669] [670] 17, and most Versions, etc. It is accepted by TrRV, and is bracketed by WH. The οὕτως is taken by some (De Wette, etc.) to refer to the following ὡς, = “husbands ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies”. To this there is no serious grammatical objection; for οὕτως does not look always to what precedes, but may refer to what follows (e.g., 1 Corinthians 3:15, οὕτω δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός; also 1 Corinthians 4:1). When this is the case, however, whether in classical Greek or in the NT, there appears to be a certain emphasis on the οὕτως, and its more familiar reference is to what precedes. Here, too, the καί favours the relation to the preceding καθὼς καὶ ὁ χριστός, etc. The idea, therefore, is that even as Christ loved the Church so too ought husbands to love their wives. ὡς τὰ ἑαυτῶν σώματα : as their own bodies. This is not to be reduced to “like themselves” (Rosenm., etc.); nor does ὡς here mean simply “like,” as if all that is meant is that the husband's love for his wife is to be similar to his love for his own body. The ὡς has its qualitative force, = “as it were,” “as being”. Christ and husband are each head, as Paul has already put it, and as the Church is the body in relation to the former, so is the wife in relation to the latter. The husband, the head, therefore, is to love the wife as being his body, even as Christ loved the Church as forming His body. The idea of husband and wife as being one flesh is probably also in view. ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ἑαυτὸν ἀγαπᾷ : he that loveth his own wife loveth himself. The relation of head and body means that the wife is part of the husband's self. To love his wife, therefore, in this character as being his body, is to love himself. It is a love, consequently, not merely of duty, but of nature κατὰ φύσιν as well as κατʼ ὀφειλήν (Ell.).

[656] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[657] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[658] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[659] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[660] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[661] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis (δ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[662] Codex Porphyrianus (sæc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Ephesians 2:13-16.

[663] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[664] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[665] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[666] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[667] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[668] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[669] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

[670] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis (δ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.