Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 9

It should be observed that what is here set forth is used simply as an illustration. That is to say, the passage does not state that the Church is actually the Bride of Christ. Whatever may be gathered from the other parts of Scripture, we need to keep clearly before us the difference between what is definitely set forth in the passage and what are merely deductions from it. The illustration, with its spiritual application, is beautiful and full of teaching, but any direct statement that the Church is the Bride is absent from this chapter.

The Method of Comparison

The language adopted is that of comparison. The reason why wives are to be in subjection to their own husbands as unto the Lord, is given as follows: "For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the Head of the Church, being Himself the Saviour of the Body" (verse 23, R.V.). The phraseology of comparison is continued in the next verse, where the order of the natural and the spiritual is reversed. "But as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything." Again, husbands are to love their wives, "even as also Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it" (verse 25). Again, and still by way of comparison, "No man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the Church" (verse 29). Finally, when the Apostle speaks about a man's leaving his father and mother and cleaving to his wife, the twain becoming one flesh, he says, "This mystery is great: but I speak in regard to Christ and the church."

The Combined Features

While injunctions are given as to Christian conduct in the matter of this natural relationship, the subject of the Church which has occupied a prominent place in the earlier part of the Epistle, is interwoven into them. There are features of the relationship between Christ and the Church which could not all be included in any of the figures which have been used in the earlier part of the Epistle, those namely of the body (1:23), the city, the household (2:19), the temple (2:20, 21), the family (3:15), and the full-grown man (4:13). While the subject of authority and subjection are involved, for instance, in the relationship of the head to the body, yet there are additional features in this respect in the simile of the relationship between husband and wife. In the illustration of the head and the body there is union between the one and the other, but, so far as the physical illustration itself goes, the head does not choose the body; with husband and wife there is choice as well as union, and love, joy and companionship.

Again, there are servants in the household, and they are chosen for their service, but they are not related to the head of the household; with husband and wife there is relationship as well as choice. There may be friends in the household, but here, too, there is choice without relationship. Again, in the family there are love and joy, communion and relationship, but not choice. Only in the case of husband and wife are an the conditions fulfilled choice, union, relationship, love, joy, companionship and communion. All are comprehended in this illustration.

These features form, in a special way, the subjects of that part of the Lord's discourse in the upper room recorded in John 15. There He speaks of His choice of them (verse 16), of their union with Him (there in the figure of the vine and the branches verses 4, 5 and 16, where the word "appointed," R.V., is literally "set in"), of His love for them (verse 9), their mutual joy (verse 11), their companionship with Him (verse 27), His communion with them (verse 15), and their relationship with Him (verse 5). Thus to those who formed, as it were, the nucleus of His Church, He unfolded, before His death, those details which the very illustration of husband and wife in Ephesians 5 provides.

Unity and Union

The metaphor of the head and the body suggests unity; the illustration of husband and wife suggests union. The former has to do with constituent parts of a whole, the latter with the oneness of two persons. The body conveys the thought of that which is the instrument of the Lord's will; the simile of the wife conveys the thought of that which is the counterpart of Himself and the object of His love.

The similitude of the marriage state is the most lovely of all the figures by means of which the mystery relating to Christ and His Church is set forth. It is at the same time the most practical in its teaching for it sets forth, to begin with, the headship and authority of Christ over the members of the Church and their delighted subjection to Him in the fulfillment of His will, the great principle that moulds their character and guides their conduct; for Christ Himself becomes the ideal and standard of their manner of life. Further still, the illustration conveys the truth of that holy and gracious intimacy by which the Lord unlocks the secrets of His heart, making known His mind, His counsels and His love; while on the other hand it suggests that living response which those who enter into the joy of this communion make to Him.

The Practical Acknowledgement

It was the delight of Christ ever to abide in the Father's love and so to fulfil His will. This is the very fount of His love to us and His desires toward us, as is expressed in His words of grace "Even as the Father hath loved Me I also have loved you: abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love" (John 15, 9, 10). Let us, then, abide in His love, as a faithful spouse does in her husband's love.

The practical acknowledgment of this relationship is intimated in what is said of Sarah, who "obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord" (I Peter 3:6). Not by mere exclamations of faithfulness and loyalty, or loud protestations of adherence to the truth, is He to be acknowledged as Lord, but by manifestation of that character which is conformed to His own, which indeed involves the maintenance of Divine truth, but therein displays His virtues and excellences. Christian conduct consists in truth expressed in love, love which is a Spirit-kindled response to His. "We love because He first loved us" (I John 4:19, R.V.).

The Cleansing and Presentation

"Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for it." Displayed in all its fulness at the Cross, His love is undiminished now that He is in glory. The love which led Him to the Cross had this as its object, that, having cleansed the Church by the washing of water with the Word, "He might sanctify it," and might "present it to Himself." Christ did not sanctify the Church in order that it might be His possession, He made it His possession in order that He might sanctify it. It belongs to Him inasmuch as He gave Himself for it, and it is destined to be just what He designed that it should be, the great expression of His character as well as the object of His care. It is in its heavenly sphere and destination that He will present it to Himself and it will then be entirely suited to His own glory.

Since there are things which are contrary to His character in the life of believers here below, His present work is to cleanse them by the laver of the Word of God. This is the Divine purpose for all who as true believers constitute the Church. How readily, therefore, should we respond to this His gracious operation, realizing what He has done in giving Himself up for us, what His will is for us now, and the destiny to which He is bringing us! How ardently we should desire just those things that He desires, and do only that which pleases Him, that our life may be entirely lived for Him!

The Nourishing

Let us ever remember that we are the objects of that tender care and love which are expressed in the words "nourisheth and cherisheth." "Even so ought husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies." To love one's wife is to love oneself. "For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the Church" (verse 29, R.V.). What is said about Christ's love for the Church is given as the pattern of the husband's love for his wife, but what constant and loving care on the part of Christ, what provision for all our needs, are herein set forth! As one ministers nourishment to his body so that it may be healthy and strong, and affords it protection and everything else designed to make it free from that which would be detrimental to it, so is the gracious and unremitting ministry of Christ for those who are members of His Body, the Church.

All this is designed for our comfort. May we live in such close communion with our Lord that we may enjoy the realization of His love, and respond by our love to the impulse of His. Let us remove from us all that would hinder this holy communion, and, entering into His desires towards us, find accordingly our delight in Him.

Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 9

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