Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
Parallel translations
- WEB For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;
- KJV For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
- NKJV For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
- NASB for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
- NLT No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.
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
No one hates his own body but nourishes and cares for it, as Christ does the church. Self-care illustrates how a husband should cherish his wife.
Overview
Paul presses the analogy: just as people naturally nourish and cherish their own flesh, so a husband should care for his wife, and so Christ cares for the church. The verb 'cherishes' conveys warm, tender provision. Christ's ongoing nurture of his people is the gracious pattern for marital love.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezek 34:14–15I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
- Eph 5:31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
- Eccl 4:5The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
- John 6:50–58This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die.
- Prov 11:17A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
- Isa 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
- Matt 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Rom 1:31They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
- Ezek 34:27The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.
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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 5:29 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.