[22] Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
[23] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
[24] Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
[25] Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
[26] That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
[27] That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
[28] So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
[29] For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
[30] For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
[31] For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
[32] This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
[33] Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Immediately after talking about being filled with the Spirit, the apostle Paul exhorts us concerning Christian marriage and the home (Eph. 5:22-6:4). This tells me several things:
• We should not expect our spouse to fill the void in our heart and life that only God can fill. Too many enter marriage thinking it will bring the ultimate purpose and satisfaction. It is the most blessed of human relationships, but we were created first and foremost for God.
• The test of true spirituality is how we behave everyday in the home among those that know us best (not for just a few hours at church).
• Our marriage and family must be built on the foundation of our relationship with God. We cannot consistently live up to God’s standard for the home without His Spirit. Think about it! Wives, you are to submit to your husbands in every thing as unto the Lord. Husbands, we are to love our wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We are to nourish and cherish our wife as being part of our own body.
Practical Applications:
1) Marriage is a ministry, each must submit to the needs of the other (v.21). The wife has a need to be loved, protected, and provided for. The husband has a need to be respected and followed. This is God’s design (two become one). Marriage is a divine and sacred institution. Nobody can improve on the plan of the Designer!
2) We must focus on our RESPONSIBILITIES, not RIGHTS. Paul didn’t say, “Husbands, you have a right for your wife to be submitted to you so make sure she is!”
3) Paul addresses the ones under authority first (wives, children, servants) knowing it is a great temptation of the flesh to resist authority.
4) Marriage must not be a performance based relationship (love gives without expecting).
5) KNOWING this passage will not give us a great marriage, OBEYING it will.
Contrary to popular opinion, this passage does not teach that the church is the bride of Christ. In the doctrinal section of the epistle (chapters 1-3) Paul emphasized that the church is the BODY of Christ (1:22-23, 2:16, 3:6; 4:4). This passage is In the practical section of the epistle (chapters 4-6). Paul uses the relationship between Christ and His church (one body) to teach about the marriage relationship between believers. It is important to note the little (but very important) word, “AS”. Nowhere in the passage does he say that the church is the bride of Christ. In fact, the term “bride of Christ” is not in the Bible.
The teaching is simply as follows:
I. Christ and His church are one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13)
a) Christ is the head of this body
b) The church is to submit to it’s Head
c) Christ loves the church as His own body, we are part of Him
II. In the marriage relationship the husband and wife are one flesh (v.31).
a) The husband is the head of this one body
b) The wife should submit to her husband as she does to Christ
c) The husband should love his wife as his own body (nourish), she is part of him
“This is a great mystery” (v.32) – The mystery of the church is not that it is the bride of Christ (the “bride” is no mystery for it is in prophecy), but that it is the BODY of Christ (3:3-6).
The traditional view among Christians is that the church of this present age is the “bride of Christ”. The Baptist Briders actually believe and teach that only members of the local Baptist church (that is just like theirs and supposedly can be traced back to John the Baptist) are in the bride of Christ! They claim that of you are saved you are in the family of God, but if you have not been water baptized in a church like theirs you are not in the bride of Christ.
The apostle Paul is the divinely appointed spokesmen for this age, so if the Body of Christ is the bride of Christ we should expect to find him teaching that in his epistles. He does not teach that in Ephesians 5. What about other passages?
• Romans 7:1-6
Paul used marriage as an illustration to explain how we are free from the law. The woman is set free from her husband by death. A husband and wife are one flesh. Death dissolves that union. The application is that our old man is crucified with Christ and therefore we are free to be joined to Christ. Upon salvation we are spiritually circumcised (Col. 2:10-11) and are loosed from the flesh. The husband does not represent the law, but the flesh. The flesh was condemned by the law, but now that the flesh is dead, we are in Christ who fulfilled the law and that means we are dead to the law! Marriage is used in this passage for the purpose of illustration. This passage does not doctrinally teach that we are the bride of Christ. If it were to be taken literally that would mean that we were married to our flesh before salvation. Since we are one with the Lord, our relationship may be LIKENED to marriage.
• 2 Corinthians 11:1-4
The false teachers that sought to influence the church at Corinth against Paul and his message boasted themselves as being the true messengers of God. Paul used the foolishness of boasting to make a point (vs.16-21). He declared his responsibility for them in vs.1-3. He had godly jealousy for them (they were his converts). He likened his responsibility to that of the one who espouses a bride to a bridegroom. In the Jewish culture this man had the responsibility to make sure the bride stayed pure during the betrothal. He knows that Satan can appear as an angel of light and that he has ministers that appear as apostles of Christ (vs.13-15) and his goal is to deceive and corrupt the church. Paul wanted the church to stay doctrinally and morally pure. The word “AS” in v.2 tells us that Paul is speaking figuratively. Paul also tells the same church that he is their father (1 Cor. 4:15). He told the churches at Galatia that he was their mother (Gal. 4:19). If this passage is doctrinally saying that the church is the bride of Christ it would mean that Paul himself is not in the bride.
Because most Christians think we are the bride of Christ they wrongly read themselves into the bride spoken of in Revelation (19:1-11; 21:1-2, 9-14). The book of Revelation is a PROPHECY (1:3). It is based on OT prophecy and is the consummation of God's prophetic kingdom program concerning Israel and the nations. If people would lay aside preconceived ideas received by religious tradition and consider the following scriptural points, I believe they would understand who the bride of prophecy is:
1) Israel became the wife of God under the old covenant (Jer. 2:1-2)
2) She constantly committed adultery against Him with her idolatry (Jer. 3; Ezek. 16)
3) After much longsuffering, God gave her a bill of divorcement (Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3:8)
4) He promised to betroth her again as a virgin bride (Isa. 54:6-8; 62:1-5; Hos. 2:14-23)
5) Christ presented Himself to Israel as a Bridegroom, but was rejected by her (Jn. 1:31; 3:29)
6) When He comes again she will receive Him and be His bride and wife (Rev. 19:7-11)
7) This relationship will remain in the eternal state (Rev. 21:1-2, 9-14)
I am not suggesting that the Body of Christ will not have access to the new Jerusalem, but why do most Christian's believe that this city primarily belongs to us? The number twelve is stamped all over the city (there are 7 twelves in the description of the city). This number is not associated with the ONE body of Christ but the TWELVE tribes of Israel. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel are on the twelve gates of the city and the names of the twelve JEWISH apostles of the Lamb (Matt. 19:28) are on the twelve foundations. And yet Christians, in their usual selfish approach to the Bible, want to steal this city from Israel! It is the new JERUSALEM, not the new Atlanta!
What’s the big deal? Am I being petty by making this an issue? If we are the bride of prophecy that would mean:
1) We will not be permanently joined to the Lord until the second coming (Rev. 19:7)
2) We must faithfully endure to the end to be part of His bride (Rev. 3:4-5; 19:8)
3) We make ourselves ready by our righteousness (Rev. 19:7-8)
4) We replaced Israel and God was not faithful to His promises to them
Those who teach the Body of Christ is the bride of prophecy are guilty of replacement theology.
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