Ephesians 5.23-The Purpose of the Statement That Jesus Christ Saved the Body
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 8, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:23-The Purpose of the Statement That Jesus Christ Saved the Body
Lesson # 380
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it a habit of voluntarily subordinating yourselves to your own husbands as each and every one of you as a corporate unit are voluntarily subordinating yourselves to the Lord 23 because the husband is head over his wife just as the Christ correspondingly is head over the church. He Himself caused the body to be saved. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:23 is composed of the following:
(1) hoti causal clause: hoti anēr estin kephalē tēs gynaikos (ὅτι ἀνήρ ἐστιν κεφαλὴ τῆς γυναικὸς), “because the husband is head over his wife” (Lecturer’s translation).
(2) elliptical comparative clause: hōs kai ho Christos kephalē tēs ekklēsias (ὡς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς κεφαλὴ τῆς ἐκκλησίας), “just the Christ correspondingly is head over the church. (Lecturer’s translation).
(3) Solemn emphatic declarative statement: autos sōtēr tou sōmatos (αὐτὸς σωτὴρ τοῦ σώματος), “He Himself caused the body to be saved” (Lecturer’s translation).
The elliptical declarative statement, which follows the hoti causal clause and comparative clause, is both solemn and emphatic because Paul wants to emphasize with the Christian community that Jesus Christ saved the body of Christ because this statement anticipates Paul presenting the responsibility of the husband in relation to his wife in Ephesians 5:25-33.
Namely, that the husband is to self-sacrificially love his wife as Christ self-sacrificially loved His wife, the church.
This emphatic, solemn, elliptical declarative statement asserts that Jesus Christ Himself saved the body, i.e., the Christian community seems out of place.
However, it anticipates Paul presenting the responsibility of the husband in relation to his wife in Ephesians 5:25-33.
Namely, that the husband is to self-sacrificially love his wife as Christ self-sacrificially loved His wife, the church.
This self-sacrificial love originates in the character and nature of the triune God and was manifested perfectly by Jesus Christ during His First Advent with His great manifestation taking place at the cross when Jesus Christ suffered the wrath of God through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The Christian husband is to manifest this same divine love in his relationship with his wife, which is accomplished by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved the husband at the cross when he was God’s enemy.
Obedience to this command is accomplished by exercising faith in the Scriptures declaration that the Father loved the believer in eternity past through election and predestination and through the person and work of His Son at the cross as well as through the work of the Holy Spirit at justification.
This post-justification enables the husband to love his wife like Christ loved Him.
Therefore, the fact that Paul mentions Jesus Christ saving the body of Christ implies the means by which the Lord accomplished this, namely by exercising His divine love on behalf of them at the cross when they were His enemies (Rom. 5:6-8).
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 5:21, Paul asserts that one of the results of believers obeying his command in Ephesians 5:18 to continue to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced by his Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions in this letter is that they will voluntarily subordinate themselves to each other.
This voluntary subordination to each other is based upon their reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love of Christ on behalf of each one of them.
In other words, this voluntary subordination to each other is based upon their reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love the Lord Jesus Christ displayed on behalf of them at the cross.
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 5:21, the verb hupotassomai (ὑποτάσσομαι) can be interpreted as being in the passive or middle voice.
I view it as being in the middle voice because the verb in this context expresses the volitional responsibility of the members of the Christian community with regard to their interaction with each other.
Therefore, the verb hupotassomai (ὑποτάσσομαι) pertains to voluntarily subordinating oneself to another.
The referent of the masculine plural form of this verb is the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
The second person plural form of this verb refers to the members of this community not only as a corporate unit but also as individuals.
The latter of which is indicated by the fact that Paul is using the distributive sense of the second person plural, which emphasizes no exceptions expressing Paul’s concern for the Christian community not only as a corporate unit but also as individuals.
Websters Collegiate Dictionary lists the following meanings of the verb “subordinate” 1: placed in or occupying a lower class, rank, or position: inferior 〈a subordinate officer〉2: submissive to or controlled by authority 3: of, relating to, or constituting a clause that functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
The contents of Ephesians 5:19-20 indicates that the verb hupotassomai (ὑποτάσσομαι) in Ephesians 5:21 pertains to voluntarily subordinating oneself to another in the sense of occupying a lower class, rank or position than each other.
Thus, the verb expresses the idea of the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia continuing to voluntarily subordinate themselves to one another in the sense of placing themselves in a lower class, rank or position than each other for the purpose of ministering or serving each other.
This is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did during His First Advent by becoming a human being in order to serve all of sinful humanity by living a life a perfect obedience under the law for all of sinful humanity as well as suffering the wrath of God as substitute for them in order that they would not have suffer the wrath of God for all of eternity in the lake of fire.
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)
Matthew 20:28 “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)
John 13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. 3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. 5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. 6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 (For Jesus knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”) 12 So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example—you should do just as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (NET)
Philippians 2:5 Everyone continue thinking this (according to humility) within yourselves, which was also in (the mind of) Christ Jesus, 6 who although existing from eternity past in the essence of God, He never regarded existing equally in essence with God an exploitable asset. 7 On the contrary, He denied Himself of the independent function of His deity by having assumed the essence of a slave when He was born in the likeness of men. 8 In fact, although He was discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by having entered into obedience to the point of spiritual death even death on a Cross. 9 For this very reason in fact God the Father has promoted Him to the highest-ranking position and has awarded to Him the rank, which is superior to every rank 10 in order that in the sphere of this rank possessed by Jesus every person must bow, celestials and terrestrials and sub-terrestrials. 11 Also, every person must publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father. (Lecturer’s translation)
The members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia were to voluntarily subordinate themselves to one another by self-sacrificially serving one another.
They were to do this by exercising their spiritual gifts, which function when they obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to self-sacrificially love another as He self-sacrificially loved all of them at the cross when they were His enemies (cf. Rom. 5:6-8).
