John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 5:28

"Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself:" — Ephesians 5:28 (ASV)

He that loveth his wife. An argument is now drawn from nature itself to prove that men ought to love their wives. Every man, by his very nature, loves himself. But no man can love himself without loving his wife. Therefore, the man who does not love his wife is a monster.

The minor proposition is proved in this manner. Marriage was appointed by God on the condition that the two should be one flesh; and that this unity may be the more sacred, he again emphasizes it by the consideration of Christ and his church. Such is the substance of his argument, which to a certain extent applies universally to human society.

To show what one person owes to another, Isaiah says, hide not thyself from thine own flesh. (Isaiah 58:7). But this refers to our common nature. Between a man and his wife there is a far closer relation, for they not only are united by a resemblance of nature, but by the bond of marriage have become one man. Whoever seriously considers the design of marriage cannot but love his wife.