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New Testament Reading - Christian family life

²⁵And you husbands, show the same kind of love to your wives as Christ showed to the Church when he died for her, ²⁶to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s Word;^{a 27}so that he could give her to himself as a glorious Church without a single spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, being holy and without a single fault. ²⁸That is how husbands should treat their wives, loving them as parts of themselves. For since a man and his wife are now one, a man is really doing himself a favor and loving himself when he loves his wife! ^29-30No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body the Church, of which we are parts.

³¹(That the husband and wife are one body is proved by the Scripture, which says, “A man must leave his father and mother when he marries so that he can be perfectly joined to his wife, and the two shall be one.”) ³²I know this is hard to understand, but it is an illustration of the way we are parts of the body of Christ.

³³So again I say, a man must love his wife as a part of himself; and the wife must see to it that she deeply respects her husband — obeying, praising, and honoring him.

6 ¹Children, obey your parents; this is the right thing to do because God has placed them in authority over you. ²Honor your father and mother. This is the first of God’s Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. ³And this is the promise: that if you honor your father and mother, yours will be a long life, full of blessing.

⁴And now a word to you parents. Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves, with suggestions and godly advice.

1. Literally, “having cleansed it by washing of water with the word.”