Ephesians 5:28

28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself.

Ephesians 5:28 Meaning and Commentary

Ephesians 5:28

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies
It is a common saying with the Jews, that a man's wife is (wpwgk) , "as his own body" ^F18; and it is one of the precepts of their wise men, that a man should honour his wife more than his body, (wpwgk hbhaw) , and "love her as his body" ^F19; for as they also say, they are but one body ^F20; the apostle seems to speak in the language of his countrymen; however, his doctrine and theirs agree in this point: wherefore

he that loveth his wife loveth himself;
because she is one body and flesh with him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 24. 1. & Becorot, fol. 35. 2. Maimon. Hilchot Becorot, c. 2. sect. 17. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 18. 2.
F19 T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 62. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 76. 2. Derech Eretz, fol. 17. 4. Maimon Hilchot Ishot, c. 15. sect. 19.
F20 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 6. 3.

Ephesians 5:28 In-Context

26 to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water.

27 He died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it.

28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself.

29 No one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church,

30 because we are parts of his body.