Ephesians 5:29 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ephesians 5:29

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This is not about men loving their own bodies in the sense that they pamper themselves, spend hours in front of a mirror, and pander to the flesh. We should think of it more in another way. It is a picture of this: if a limb is wounded – and they were physical workers in those days, as many are today, doing dangerous work – then a man who was the bread winner could not ignore it. He must take whatever remedies are available to have it repaired, set, and healed. A man would not let himself starve thinking, ‘You know, I am rather busy for the next week or two, so I will cut out eating.’ He has got to eat; he has got to keep his strength up. This is about looking after himself in the ordinary way, and taking care of his working capacity, and it goes beyond this to all the natural care we extend to our bodies. When the body is hungry a man feeds it and when it is thirsty he gives it a drink; he always gives it what he knows is best for it; he pleases his body, knowing better than anyone else its tastes and lavishing attention on it, for he rightly regards it as part of him. It is his body alone that his soul is joined to; it is to him and him alone that it makes known its needs and desires so that he sense them as he does no other body. Of course the situation is complicated by sin and the body’s inclination to satisfy evil desires, but setting that aside, there is also a natural and wholesome interaction between body and soul which God has designed. The Bible does not approve of asceticism.But, says Paul, men ought also to love their wives as their own bodies. Marriage is another very close union, and it is one which the husband does not have with any other woman than his wife. He has a unique relationship with his own body, and he has a unique relationship with the woman who is his wife. He loves his own body and attends to its needs. He should also love his wife and attend to her needs: her need for companionship, for purpose in life, for happiness, for deliverance from danger, for freedom to express herself meaningfully. He should love her, all of her, not just her body but also her soul. He should seek to satisfy her at every level. He should relate to her physically, intellectually and emotionally. He should facilitate her usefulness in the kingdom of heaven. For his part, he looks on her as he looks on no other person in the world. Their intimacy is a fitting expression of this one flesh relationship.

Application

A husband needs his wife like he needs his limbs. ‘You are complementary beings’, says the apostle. He needs his wife's intuition. God has put husband and wife together. He needs her special level of human perception, which he lacks. He needs her sensitivity to human situations, and to other people's feelings. He needs her observation. He needs her angle on things. He needs her energy and, very often, her restraint. He needs her expediting faculty; and without doubt the fairer sex has a very superior expediting faculty. He needs her way with the young, and her unique abilities with the children. And all he invests in her is returned tenfold.

And he also needs her intellectual co-operation and input, and we have to realise this. To ignore her or take her for granted, to slight her or not to help her or encourage her or strengthen her in different ways, spiritually and physically, is just utterly foolish. It is absurd, it is ridiculous. So, that is the reasoning of these verses. ‘So ought men to love their wives [ because we belong now to each other, we are each other's property] as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife [ultimately] loveth [or in the sense of ‘takes care of’] himself. For no man [except a fool] ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth [interesting term, because the Greek actually means ‘trains up’, ‘nurtures’] and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones’.

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Ephesians 5:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Ephesians 5:29