Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 29 Holy Bible
for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church;
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For no man ever had hate for his flesh; but he gives it food and takes care of it, even as Christ does for the church;
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For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly:
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For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
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For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;
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for no one ever his own flesh did hate, but doth nourish and cherish it, as also the Lord -- the assembly,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 29. - For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the Church. To hate one's wife is as irrational as to hate one's own flesh, and as, on the other hand, men constantly nourish and cherish their flesh, protecting it from hurt, seeking to heal it when hurt, and generally to promote its welfare and comfort, so ought husbands to act towards their wives. In this aspect of the case, too, the sharp eye of the apostle finds an analogy between the relation of the wife to the husband and that of the Church to Christ, expanded in the next verso.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(29) His own flesh--i.e., as above (Ephesians 5:28), his own body. There are two parts of the natural care for our own bodies; first, "to nourish" (properly, to rear them up from childhood, as in Ephesians 6:4), and then "to cherish" (literally, to keep them warm), to provide all they need for health, and comfort, and life. In all that corresponds to both, the husband is to show love to the wife, not only as a self, but as a weaker self, for whom he is bound to think and to act. It may be noted in passing that the very comparison accords with the Christian idea of the body as a part of the true self, redeemed to be a temple of God; and is utterly incongruous with the Gnostic conceptions (already beginning at Colossae, probably not unknown in other Asiatic churches) of all matter as the source of evil, and of the body as that for which the spirit should not deign to care.(29, 30) Even as the Lord the church: for we . . .--Again St. Paul escapes from the type to rest on the Antitype (see Ephesians 5:32). The idea of the natural rearing and cherishing the body suggests the thought of the tender care of Christ, in which He "rears up" His Church from weak infancy to full maturity in heaven, and all the while "cherishes it (comp. 1Thessalonians 2:7, spoken of His servants) as a nurse cherisheth her children," "carrying it in His bosom" (Isaiah 40:11), comforting and cheering its childlike weakness. Hence he goes back again to speak with great and special emphasis of our unity with Him. . . .
