32. God’s love is captured vividly in Ephesians 5, where Saint Paul extends the marriage analogy to Christ and the Church.31 Paul urges both husbands and wives to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21, NRSV) Christian marriage is therefore not a negotiation over rights and responsibilities, but rather a description of mutual self-giving. It is far more radical than mere egalitarianism. Paul does write that “the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church.” (Eph 5:23, NRSV) But what does this mean in context and in practice? Paul calls husbands to a self-giving love that mirrors Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Undermining machismo and exploitation, and in profound contrast to other household codes in the ancient world, Paul teaches a dynamic in the image of God: “husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph 5:25, NRSV) Drawing on Ephesians 5, the Church speaks of marriage as a sacrament, and summons couples to this kind of cruciform selfsacrificial communion.