830 | MARRIAGE | Genesis 2, Matthew 19, and Ephesians 5, NEB | |||
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will provide a partner for him." The Lord God then built up the rib, which he had taken out of the man, into a woman. He brought her to the man, and the man said: "Now this, at last— bone from my bones, flesh from my flesh! this shall be called woman, for from man was this taken." "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be made one with his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. "It follows that they are no longer two individuals: they are one flesh. What God has joined together, man must not separate." Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord; for the man is the head of the woman, just as Christ also is the head of the church. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it, to consecrate it, cleansing it by water and word, so that he might present the church to himself all glorious, with no stain or wrinkle or anything of the sort, but holy and without blemish. In the same way men also are bound to love their wives, as they love their own bodies. In loving his wife a man loves himself. For no one ever hated his own body: on the contrary, he provides and cares for it. | LOVE IN THE HOME: See also Nos. 793, 827 |