Ephesians 5:29

An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

For no [normal] person ever hated his own [physical] body, but [instead] he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ also does for the church,

Cross References

Matthew 23:37

“O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [you people] who murdered the prophets and stoned those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather you people together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not plant seeds or harvest [a crop] or store [things] in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them [adequately]. Are you not a lot more valuable than they are?

Romans 1:31

they do not have any sense; they do not keep their promises; they fail to show natural affection; and they are merciless.

Ephesians 5:28

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

Ephesians 5:30

because we are parts of His [spiritual] body.

Ephesians 5:31

[Gen. 2:24 says], “For this reason a man will leave [the home of] his father and mother, and will cling to his wife, [so that] the two will become one flesh [i.e., united in such a close relationship, as to practically constitute one body].”