Ephesians 5:31 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For this cause - Ἀντὶ τόυτου Anti toutou. This verse is a quotation from Genesis 2:24, and contains the account of the institution of marriage. The meaning of the phrase rendered “for this cause” is, “answerably to this;” or corresponding to this - that is, to what Paul had just said of the union of believers and the Redeemer. On the meaning of this verse, see the notes on Matthew 19:4. There is no evidence that the marriage connection was originally designed to symbolize or typify this union, but it may be used to illustrate that connection, and to show the strength of the attachment between the Redeemer and his people. The comparison should be confined, however, strictly to the use made of it in the New Testament.