Then, after quoting Genesis 2:24, Paul continued: “Let each one of you individually so love his wife as he does himself.”​—Ephesians 5:28-33.

¹⁵ Some men may think that they should be harsh or remote in dealing with their wives. But the Author of marriage says that a husband should deeply love his wife and show that love. To be genuinely happy, a wife needs to feel sure that she is genuinely loved.

¹⁶ A husband’s ‘feeding and cherishing his wife as his own body’ involves his striving to be a good provider. Yet he should not be so occupied with earning a living that he overlooks spending time with his wife and displaying warm interest in her as a person. Further, no sane man, even when irritated, is hateful or brutal to his own body. Hence, what the Bible says rules out a man’s being violently angry with his wife.​—Psalm 11:5; 37:8.

²¹ Right after telling husbands to love their wives, the Bible adds: “On the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33) In the case of the first marriage, there were factors that naturally should have caused Eve to look up to her husband. Adam was created first. He had greater knowledge and experience in life, even having received directions from God.

²² But what about marriages today? If a husband sincerely tries to apply the Bible advice discussed earlier, this most likely will stimulate respect on the part of his wife. Even where a wife may excel in certain ways, or where her husband may fall short, there is reason to develop respect​—out of regard for Jehovah’s arrangement, of which the family is a part.