So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
Parallel translations
- WEB Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
- KJV So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
- BSB In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
- NKJV So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
- NLT In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies, for loving his wife is loving himself. Marriage joins husband and wife as one.
Overview
Drawing on the one-flesh union, Paul argues that a husband's love for his wife is, in effect, love for himself. This is not selfishness but a recognition of marital unity that motivates tender care. The reasoning reinforces the call of verse 25 with a practical, relational logic.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Eph 5:25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
- Gen 2:21–24Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
- Matt 19:5and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’
- Eph 5:33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
- Eph 5:31“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. The two will become one flesh.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 5:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.