Ephesians 5:28

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 'So (in the same manner as Christ loves the Church) ought husbands also (thus A B Delta G f g, Vulgate, read) to love their own (cf; note, ) wives as (being) their own bodies.' 'He that, loveth his own [ten heautou] wife loveth himself.' For a man's wife is part of his very self. Christ loved the Church, not merely just as He loved His own body, but as being His own body (Ellicott) (; )....

28._He that loveth his wife. _An argument is now drawn from nature itself, to prove that men ought to love their wives. Every man, by his very nature, loves himself. But no man can love himself without loving his wife. Therefore, the man who does not love his wife is a monster. The minor proposition is proved in this manner. Marriage was appointed by God on the condition that the two should be _one flesh; _and that this unity may be the more sacred, he again recommends it to our notice by the consideration of Christ and his church. Such is the amount of his argument, which to a certain extent applies universally to human society. To shew what man owes to man, Isaiah says, “hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” (Isaiah 58:7.) But this refers to our common nature. Between a man and his wife there is a far closer relation; for they not only are united by a resemblance of nature,

22-33 The duty of wives is, submission to their husbands in the Lord, which includes honouring and obeying them, from a principle of love to them. The duty of husbands is to love their wives. The love of Christ to the church is an example, which is sincere, pure, and constant, notwithstanding her failures. Christ gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify it in this world, and glorify it in the next, that he might bestow on all his members a principle of holiness, and deliver them from the guilt, the pollution, and the dominion of sin, by those influences of the Holy Spirit, of which baptismal water was the outward sign. The church and believers will not be without spot or wrinkle till they come to glory. But those only who are sanctified now, shall be glorified hereafter. The words of Adam, mentioned by the apostle, are spoken literally of marriage; but they have also a hidden...

Verse 28. _AS THEIR OWN BODIES_] For the woman is, properly speaking, a _part_ of the man; for God made man _male and female_, and the woman was taken out of his side; therefore is she _flesh of his_ _flesh, and bone of his bone_; and therefore, he that loveth his wife loveth himself, for they two are one flesh. The apostle, in all these verses, refers to the creation and original _state_ of the first human pair....

SO OUGHT MEN TO LOVE THEIR WIVES AS THEIR OWN BODIES - Because they are one flesh; Ephesians 5:31. This is the subject on which Paul had been speaking, and from which he had been diverted by the allusion to the glorified church. The doctrine here is, that a husband should have the same care for the comfort of his wife which he has for himself. He should regard her as one with himself; and as he protects his own body from cold and hunger, and, when sick and suffering, endeavors to restore it to health, so he should regard and treat her. HE THAT LOVETH HIS WIFE LOVETH HIMSELF - (1) Because she is one with him, and their interests are identified. (2) Because, by this, he really promotes his own welfare, as much as he does when he takes care of

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 5:1 BE YE THEREFORE IMITATORS OF GOD, AS CHILDREN BELOVED. These words are closely connected with the preceding. In Ephesians 4:32 he had urged the example of God in one very momentous matter; he now urges it in a more general sense and on another ground. We ought to forgive men because God has forgiven us—all admit that; but moreover, we ought to imitate our Father in his forgiveness and in his loving spirit, be-because beloved children should always imitate, and will always strive to imitate, what is good in a beloved father. Forgiving love is one of the great glories of our Father; it has been made peculiarly attractive in our eyes, because it has been exercised by him towards us; every consideration, therefore, ought to ind

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 כגופו, "as his own body" r; and it is one of the precepts of their wise men, that a man should honour his wife more than his body, ואהבה כגופו, and "love her as his body" s; for as they also say, they are but one body t; 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. r T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 24. 1. Becorot, fol. 35. 2. Maimon. Hilchot Becorot, c. 2. sect. 17. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 18. 2. s T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 62. 2. Sanhedrin, fol. 76. 2. Derech Eretz, fol. 17. 4. Maimon Hilchot Ishot, c. 15. sect. 19. t Tzeror Hammor, fol. 6. 3....

Ephesians 5:1. _Be ye therefore followers of God,_ Or, imitators of God,- Ephesians 5:1. _As dear children;_ Children are naturally imitators. They are usually inclined to imitate their father; this is, therefore, a most comely and appropriate precept: «Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children.» Ephesians 5:2. _And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor._ What a path to walk in! «Walk in love.» What a well-paved way it is! «As Christ also hath loved us.» What a blessed Person for us to follow in that divinely royal road! It would have been hard

4. MANIFESTATION IN THE FAMILY-RELATIONSHIP Chapter S 5:22-6:4 _ 1. Wives representative of the Church (Ephesians 5:22)_ 2. Husbands representative of Christ (Ephesians 5:25) 3. The mystery: concerning Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:30) 4. Exhortations to children and parents (Ephesians 6:1) The exhortations which follow concern the Christian family. The mystery concerning Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32) is to be manifested in the family relationship. While before we have seen the

EPHESIANS 5:22 TO EPHESIANS 6:9. SUBORDINATION IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST. The principle is illustrated by the relation (_a)_ of wives to husbands, (_b)_ of children to parents, (_c_) of slaves to masters. The writer does not attack existing social institutions slavery, the _patria potestas,_ the dependent position of women. He accepts the relationships as they exist in the world he knows, and seeks to interpret them in the light of the gospel (p. 649). If he enforces upon wives, children, and slaves, the duty of subordination, he insists also upon the corresponding obligations of conjugal love and protection, parental nurture and admonition, kind treatment and forbearance towards slaves. All these relationships are now relationships in the Lord. That of husband and wife in particular is g