<p>5:29- see on Rom. 6:19.</p><p><i>For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church</i>- See on :28. There is of course self harm and self hatred especially in our mixed up world. But the idea that nobody hates themselves was common in the classical writers. Curtius, &ldquo;<i>Corporibus nostris quoe utique non odimus</i>&rdquo; - &ldquo;We do not hate those things that pertain to our own bodies&rdquo;; Seneca &ldquo;<i>Fateor insitam nobis esse corporis nostri charitatem</i>&rdquo; - &ldquo;I confess that there is implanted in us the love of our own body&quot;. It could be that Paul is alluding to these ideas, not completely correct as they are, and building an argument upon them. The Bible is unafraid to do this, without footnoting, as it were, that there is an error in the original idea. The usage of the language of demons is typical. But another option in interpretation arises from considering that &quot;hated&quot; can mean 'to love less', as in Lk. 14:26. The Lord Jesus did not love us less than himself, and neither should the husband love his wife less than himself. The Lord's personal salvation was tied up in ours; as Robert Roberts put it, His death was &quot;for Himself that it might be for us&quot;. And the husband's salvation likewise. The unity between man and woman is such that he will not separate his salvation from that of his wife. They are on the journey together. Hence &quot;flesh&quot; is used instead of &quot;body&quot; because of the allusion to God's joining of man and woman as one flesh (Gen. 2:23). Nourishing and cherishing refer to nurturing with a view to growth (Eph. 6:4; 1 Thess. 2:7). This nourishing is provided by the Lord to the body in the form of the Spirit, which is administered through the various members of the body (Eph. 4:16; Col. 2:19). And so likewise the husband should be the spiritual nourishment for his wife; but each member of the body should be likewise for the others, including the wife for the husband.</p>