The Church as the Bride of Christ
Marriage is an icon of a greater reality and points to the relationship between Jesus and His Church. However, culture has distorted marriage as a commodity rather than a covenant. This blog explores what a covenant between Christ and His Church looks like.
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“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
But If Not
The time was June 1940, and the place was Dunkirk. The British Expeditionary Force, sent to stem the Nazi advance into Belgium and France, had been pushed steadily back to the sea. Fear fell over England. Hitler's armies were poised to destroy the cornered Allied army. But as the British people waited anxiously, a three-word message was transmitted from the army at Dunkirk: "But if not."
The British instantly recognized the message: "Even if we are not rescued from Hitler's army, we will stand strong."
"But if not" was found in the Book of Daniel, where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego defied Nebuchadnezzar, putting their trust in God.
The message galvanized the British people. Thousands of boats set out across the Channel in a gallant bid to rescue their army. And they succeeded, saving nearly 350,000 troops.
The British people were so steeped in Christian understanding (they were in the habit of reading their Bibles) that they immediately grasped the meaning of a cryptic biblical allusion.
Can you imagine the response in 2022 America to such a message? Most wouldn't have a clue what it meant.
Recent surveys indicate only a small percentage of Americans can name the Ten Commandments–and only 42% can identify who preached the Sermon on the Mount. Most people think it was someone on horseback.
A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week. Additional data also notes that roughly 26 million people had mostly or entirely stopped reading the Bible in the last year.
Why does this matter?
Despite a multitude of reasons why that's significant, regarding our message, it's important because many do not see the significance or correlation of the Church as the bride of Christ.
Covenant Not Commodity
When I got married, I was still a relatively new Christian. I didn't realize that marriage was a deeper reflection of spiritual realities mentioned throughout Scripture, beginning with Adam and Eve.
I was clueless that God, the Creator of the Universe, designed marriage between a man and woman to point to the eternal mystery of Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, and His Church, the bride.
It's a covenant, not a commodity.
Today, I understand marriage, and I cry at weddings. I cry because Jesus speaks of himself as the bridegroom and His church as His Bride.
"'How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?' Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day, they will fast.'" (Mark 2:18-20)
I am also profoundly moved because others speak of him as the bridegroom.
John the Baptist: "You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine and is now complete. He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:28-30)
I am moved by the fact that this is not a revelation isolated in the New Testament either. It appears more than 100 times in Scripture. The church is betrothed and promised as the intended bride of her husband, Jesus Christ.
The spiritual marriage to Jesus is not consummated. That is yet to come.
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." (2 Corinthians 11:2)
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25-27)
"This is a profound mystery— but I am talking about Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:32)
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7)
Some segments of the Christian Church are unaware of the glorious calling of the Church as the bride of Christ. This truth didn't start in the New Testament; instead, it began in the Old Testament thousands of years earlier. It's been God's plan all along, and that's why the Bible opens with, "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."
"Your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name." (Isaiah 54:5)
"As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:3-5)
God speaking to His people in Hosea: "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord." (Hosea 2:19-20)
These are not minor themes found in the Bible. Instead, this is a major theme that peppers and permeates the Scriptures.
What Does A Covenant Look Like
The revelation of the church being the bride of Christ is not minor; it's torrential. It's an abundant, unceasing, and overwhelming image that God, based upon Scripture, wants His people to be drenched in. This revelation is unto the bridegroom being embraced in our identity for who and whose we are in Jesus Christ. [READ MORE: Who We Are Depends on Whose We Are by Rev. Paul Lawler]
However, we've allowed the meaning of marriage to be diminished because we view marriage as a way of meeting our needs rather than a covenant. We've failed to see the beauty of what marriage is intended to be, and in the process, many have failed to see that marriage is a symbol and icon. Marriage points to a deeper reality of Jesus as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride.
Our culture has trained us to see marriage as little more than a commodity. Just look at historical pop songs. "You're My Everything," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "The Things We Do For Love," "I Just Want to Be Your Everything," and "(You Make Me Feel) A Natural Woman."
What happens in the process is how we now romanticize relationships, including falling in love. Instead, we see marriage as little more than a way of meeting my needs. However, Scripture shows that it's much deeper than that.
1) How We Serve One Another
A marriage covenant has unique characteristics; one is agape love, which is God's love. This love is self-sacrificial, meaning you will sacrifice for the other.
We all know the famous Jerry Maguire line, "You complete me." But, if you expect that of another human, you're asking too much. Jesus is all that can complete you. According to Philippians 1, He began a good work in you and will bring it to completion.
Agape love is what we saw earlier in Ephesians 5, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church." What did Jesus do for the church? He died for her. This Scripture instructs husbands to set their own needs aside and love her sacrificially as part of the covenant. We also see in that passage that wives should honor their husbands.
God seeks to mold us into the image of Jesus through honoring one another. This is what we see in the Holy Trinity. There's mutual honoring of the Godhead, which is what marriage is to reflect. We are committed to the one who transcends both of us; that is the covenant, not the commodification.
When you enter this covenant, your marriage will thrive because it's based upon sacrifice and love that demonstrates itself in practical ways.
2) Mirror of the New Covenant
In Matthew 7, a group approached Jesus to say they'd delivered people from evil, cast out demons, and healed in His name. Despite performing ministry, Jesus responded, "Depart from me. I never knew you."
The Greek word He used there for "know" is "ginosko," which means to know intimately. It's the same word the Bible uses for Joseph regarding Mary. He did not ginosko her because he had not been intimate with her to conceive Jesus.
Ginosko intimacy is a covenant, and it births things physically and spiritually.
Intimacy with Christ is how movements, initiatives, and goodness are born. God conceives things in our hearts that are much larger than any of us. When that happens, move with Him.
"The church has often failed to disciple people in an understanding of the design and purpose of marriage, and many Christians widely embrace societal views of marriage as a means for personal fulfillment. Marriage exists to make you happy! Or so we are told. It is a legal arrangement that allows two people to fulfill each other's individual emotional and sexual needs and desires. Western culture places high value on freedom, personal autonomy, and finding emotional fulfillment, and the culture has domesticated marriage to fit within that larger utilitarian framework.
So many of the problems we face today are rooted in this cultural redefinition of marriage. And because many Christians have unwittingly accepted the wider culture's understanding of marriage, we have little room to maneuver in our debates and discussion. Once we accept a functionalistic, commodity-driven, utilitarian view of marriage, we no longer have solid ground on which to stand in opposing a whole range of relationships that might be called marriage. We cannot accept marriage as a commodity when it is a covenant – and the two are very different."
-Dr. Timothy Tennent, For the Body
This is why the Apostle Paul said:
"'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:31-32)
This is why the Apostle Paul wrote:
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." (2 Corinthians 11:2) (NIV)
And this is why all of history culminates in this imagery of the church as the bride:
"And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Revelation 21:2)
"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out:
'Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure'—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God'." (Revelation 19:6-9)
I'm sharing that if this is true, then ultimately, it's not about who you are; it's about whose you are.
It's Not About Who You Are, But Whose You Are
Just as there was a betrothal period in biblical times during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separated from her bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to be faithful to Him.
God used his prophet Hosea to deliver a powerful message to God's people regarding unfaithfulness. As Hosea's wife, Gomer, was unfaithful and returned to a life of prostitution, God felt betrayed by that. This symbol illustrated Israel's infidelity by chasing other loves instead of allowing God to be their first love.
Despite Jesus Christ, the Messiah, not returning yet to redeem the Earth, God has already used the symbolism of a broken marriage to communicate with us who He loves. Throughout the biblical narrative, God has pursued His people with a relentless passion and did whatever He had to do to win them back.
Sin may have ruined any chance of intimacy with the Father, but God had a plan for redemption, and a means to restore a broken relationship.
TL;DR
Many do not see the significance or correlation of the Church as the bride of Christ.
Marriage is a covenant, not a commodity.
This is not a minor theme of the Bible, rather it’s a major theme that is peppered throughout and permeates Old and New Testament.
We've allowed the meaning of marriage to be diminished because we view it as a way of meeting our needs rather than a covenant.
Marriage points to a deeper reality of Jesus as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride.
What does a covenant look like?
How we serve one another.
Mirror of a new covenant.
Despite Jesus Christ, the Messiah, not returning yet to redeem the Earth, God has already used the symbolism of a broken marriage to communicate with us who He loves.
Related Reading
What is the Church by Rev. Paul Lawler
Who We Are Depends on Whose We Are by Rev. Paul Lawler
How to Hear God’s Voice & Follow His Will by Rev. Paul Lawler
About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services
