For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church:
All Commentaries on Ephesians 5:29 Go To Ephesians 5
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
“No one,” he says, “hates his own flesh”— excepting only Marcion, obviously—“but he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church.” But you [Marcion] are the only one who hates it, since you deprive it of resurrection. So you also hate the church. But Christ loved the flesh, as seen in his love for the church. The point is that as no man hates his own flesh so he does not hate his own wife but indeed acts to preserve, honor and crown her. .
