The Bride of Christ

The Bride of Christ

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious– not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless... For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great– but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-27,31-32).

The marriage analogy that Paul uses to describe the relationship between Christ and the Church no longer carries the weight today that it did in the original context. Today society perverts marriage into something purely romantic, and therefore fleeting and temporary. Don't misunderstand, romance plays a vital role in marriage, but a marriage founded solely on emotional feeling destines itself to crumble.

If we interpret the analogy as romantic, then we misinterpret the message of the text. When Paul uses this imagery in Ephesians, he does so in the context of mutual, joyful submission and obedience to one another (see the introduction to this section in Ephesians 5:15-21). The commitment holds the relationship together. We have no hope of grasping the importance of this marriage imagery as long as we continue to immerse ourselves in the mindset of a culture that has a warped view of the role God intended marriage to play. So, in order to fully understand this analogy, we must separate ourselves from the culture around us and explore the original context of the message: the marriage tradition of the first-century Jews.

Much of what is discussed here was first raised to my attention in a sermon by Brian Fisher, of Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX, entitled "The Church: Bride of Jesus Christ." I highly recommend you take some time to listen to this sermon. It traces the bride/bridegroom analogy beyond these few verses in Ephesians, identifying passages throughout the entire Bible that enlighten us to the commitment of God for His people and for His bride.

- J.W.