The Mystery of Christ and His Bride
Ephesians 5:22-33
Image Created: Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in OUR IMAGE, according to OUR LIKENESS...........so God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE; in the IMAGE OF GOD He created HIM: male and female He created THEM.
Genesis 2:24-25 (After God created Eve to fill Adam’s aloneness, vs 18-23) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become ONE FLESH. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Image lost: Genesis 3:7-10 (After eating of the forbidden fruit, denying the truth of God and following the lie of satan) “then the eyes of them both (note statement of separation) were opened, and they knew(for the very first time) that they were naked.....Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” (As if He didn’t Know!) So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid BECAUSE I WAS NAKED; and I hid myself.” (SHAME!) (Note that the personal pronouns indicate the separation between Adam and Eve, God addressed Adam alone!) There is only a glimmer of the Image of God left. Separation has become normal.
Image Restoration begun
Eph. 5:22 “This is a great mystery, but I am speaking concerning Christ and the church.”
Vs 30 “We are members of His Body, of His Flesh and of His bone”. Compare Genesis 2:23, and notice the similar language regarding Christ and His church in all that follows. Remember Eph. 4:4, after exhorting the Ephesians (and us) to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he then states, “THERE IS ONE BODY”, and then continues the list of “ones”.
Vs 23 “Christ is Head of the church, and is the Savior of the body.”
Colossians 1:12-18 “Giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love, IN WHOM we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins. HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, the FIRSTBORN OVER ALL CREATION (The First of a whole new creation, a new creative order).
"For by Him, all things were created that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities and powers. All things were created THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.
"AND HE IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH, WHO IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE."
Hebrews 1:2-3 “God....has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed HEIR of all things, through Whom He made the worlds; Who Being the Brightness of His Glory, THE EXPRESSED IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, when He BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High.”
Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.”
II Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face (veil of the law removed vs 8-14), beholding as in a mirror, the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into THE SAME IMAGE from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the New Man who is renewed in knowledge ACCORDING TO THE IMAGE OF HIM WHO CREATED HIM.”
Are you catching the theme? Christ Jesus our Lord is the very IMAGE of the Triune God and in taking His Bride to Himself, (Romans 12:5 “So we being many are ONE BODY IN CHRIST....”), He is conforming her to HIS IMAGE, transforming her into THE SAME IMAGE, from glory to glory by His Holy Spirit. By His new creation, He is restoring and eternally establishing the Image of God in Man. This is the root and reason for the name He chose for Himself, the Son of Man.
Now Notice: Eph. 5:25 “Christ Loved the church and gave HIMSELF for her.” This is the ultimate meaning of “He is the Savior of the body.” Phil. 2:5-11 is foundational to this!!! The cross is the culmination of an Eternal Choice and a Life Lived to redeem His Bride from sin!
Vs 29 Christ Jesus nourishes and cherishes the body, His Bride, the church.
Vs 26-27 Here is His goal in this loving, dying, cherishing, and nourishing, “That He might sanctify (set her apart as His alone) and cleanse her (from the filthiness of the flesh, the vestiges of the lost image) by the washing of water BY THE WORD, that He might present her to Himself a glorious bride (church), not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” In other words, the Image of God in man Restored, the bride abiding in her Head, Christ Jesus. “As the Father Loved Me, I also have Loved you; abide in my love.” Jn 15:9
Vs 24 And therefore, the church, the Bride, is subject to Christ Jesus, her Head.
And how does this all work out? Rev. 21:9b-11, “....Come, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, ...and He showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, HAVING THE GLORY OF GOD (His restored Image). And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” (Eph 5:27) Pure beauty, no more darkness at all!!!
And finally, we come to the restored picture of all this glory!
Eph 5:31 “For this reason (in order to picture all of the above Image of God in man through Christ Jesus and His Bride, the church.), a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24)
Matt. 19:1-6 Note Vs 4–“Have you not read THAT HE WHO MADE THEM AT THE BEGINNING, MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vs 6 After quoting Gen. 2:24, Jesus says to the politicians, “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. THEREFORE, WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marriage is God’s covenant, He does the Joining, He defines the participants in the covenant–male and female. Man messes with this to his own destruction!!! He is messing with God’s “picture image” and Romans 1 says that is idolatry and it is fatal!
THEREFORE: Eph. 5:22 “Wives, submit (remember our study on mutual submission in the Fear of God), to your own husbands, AS TO THE LORD.” Vs 24 adds, “In everything.”
Considering the context we have discussed, Christ Jesus being Head of the Church, and if wives are members of that body, understanding and modeling the subjection to Christ Jesus, there is nothing different in their subjection to their own husbands. SUBJECTION TO CHRIST MUST COME FIRST!!!! I think Peter is getting at this in I Peter 3:1-2. In his exhortation to wives to “be submissive to your own husbands, he includes submission to those husbands “that do not obey the Word.” This can only be in that the wife is first of all and most importantly, submissive to Christ Jesus as her Head.
Eph. 5:24 concludes with, “so let the wives be subject to their own husbands in everything, and this is just as the body of Christ is subject to its Head is in everything! (Col. 3:17 “do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”)
Eph. 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.” According to Ephesians 3:14-21, this Love of Christ is the curriculum of the believers growth. The “LEARNING CHRIST” (Eph 4:20) and HIS LOVE MUST COME FIRST–and by the way, this learning must be continual and constant! And Phil. 2:5-11 is to be his “mind set”.
Eph. 5:25-27 This means that in “modeling” the sacrificial love of Christ, the husband has his wife’s Spiritual well being first and foremost as the goal of his being her head. And if her Spiritual well being, which can only be maintained in fellowship with the Spirit of God, is foremost, her physical well being will follow in right order. The husband will neither be indulgent nor severe, but rather, sacrificial!
Eph. 5:28-29 In summing up his message to husbands, Paul makes the husband’s desires for himself the model for his desires for his wife. But remember, Paul is speaking out of the context of mutual submission IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD!!! Desires for a Miata or Harley don’t count!
THEREFORE: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Just as Christ is joined to His church and she to Him!!!
One final note: This is “Body Truth”. This is truth that is to be lived out in the Body of Christ Jesus as we are being conformed to His Image, He being the Express Image of God. This is not for those “who have no fear of God before their eyes. None of this will work in the context of fallen ignorance. This is for those who “submit to one another in the Fear of God. That being said, those outside of Christ will be judged by this revealed Glory of God and their hardness of heart and deadness of soul that leads them to ignore the supreme Glory of God’s primary covenant for man, marriage. Satan’s end time attack on the Body of Christ is evidenced by the unending attack on God ordained and defined marriage. But take heart, remember John’s vision in Revelation 21! Christ will build His Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!!! (Matthew 16:18)
Ephesians 5:22-33
Image Created: Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in OUR IMAGE, according to OUR LIKENESS...........so God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE; in the IMAGE OF GOD He created HIM: male and female He created THEM.
Genesis 2:24-25 (After God created Eve to fill Adam’s aloneness, vs 18-23) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become ONE FLESH. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Image lost: Genesis 3:7-10 (After eating of the forbidden fruit, denying the truth of God and following the lie of satan) “then the eyes of them both (note statement of separation) were opened, and they knew(for the very first time) that they were naked.....Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” (As if He didn’t Know!) So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid BECAUSE I WAS NAKED; and I hid myself.” (SHAME!) (Note that the personal pronouns indicate the separation between Adam and Eve, God addressed Adam alone!) There is only a glimmer of the Image of God left. Separation has become normal.
Image Restoration begun
Eph. 5:22 “This is a great mystery, but I am speaking concerning Christ and the church.”
Vs 30 “We are members of His Body, of His Flesh and of His bone”. Compare Genesis 2:23, and notice the similar language regarding Christ and His church in all that follows. Remember Eph. 4:4, after exhorting the Ephesians (and us) to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he then states, “THERE IS ONE BODY”, and then continues the list of “ones”.
Vs 23 “Christ is Head of the church, and is the Savior of the body.”
Colossians 1:12-18 “Giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love, IN WHOM we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins. HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, the FIRSTBORN OVER ALL CREATION (The First of a whole new creation, a new creative order).
"For by Him, all things were created that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities and powers. All things were created THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.
"AND HE IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH, WHO IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE."
Hebrews 1:2-3 “God....has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed HEIR of all things, through Whom He made the worlds; Who Being the Brightness of His Glory, THE EXPRESSED IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, when He BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High.”
Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.”
II Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face (veil of the law removed vs 8-14), beholding as in a mirror, the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into THE SAME IMAGE from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the New Man who is renewed in knowledge ACCORDING TO THE IMAGE OF HIM WHO CREATED HIM.”
Are you catching the theme? Christ Jesus our Lord is the very IMAGE of the Triune God and in taking His Bride to Himself, (Romans 12:5 “So we being many are ONE BODY IN CHRIST....”), He is conforming her to HIS IMAGE, transforming her into THE SAME IMAGE, from glory to glory by His Holy Spirit. By His new creation, He is restoring and eternally establishing the Image of God in Man. This is the root and reason for the name He chose for Himself, the Son of Man.
Now Notice: Eph. 5:25 “Christ Loved the church and gave HIMSELF for her.” This is the ultimate meaning of “He is the Savior of the body.” Phil. 2:5-11 is foundational to this!!! The cross is the culmination of an Eternal Choice and a Life Lived to redeem His Bride from sin!
Vs 29 Christ Jesus nourishes and cherishes the body, His Bride, the church.
Vs 26-27 Here is His goal in this loving, dying, cherishing, and nourishing, “That He might sanctify (set her apart as His alone) and cleanse her (from the filthiness of the flesh, the vestiges of the lost image) by the washing of water BY THE WORD, that He might present her to Himself a glorious bride (church), not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” In other words, the Image of God in man Restored, the bride abiding in her Head, Christ Jesus. “As the Father Loved Me, I also have Loved you; abide in my love.” Jn 15:9
Vs 24 And therefore, the church, the Bride, is subject to Christ Jesus, her Head.
And how does this all work out? Rev. 21:9b-11, “....Come, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, ...and He showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, HAVING THE GLORY OF GOD (His restored Image). And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” (Eph 5:27) Pure beauty, no more darkness at all!!!
And finally, we come to the restored picture of all this glory!
Eph 5:31 “For this reason (in order to picture all of the above Image of God in man through Christ Jesus and His Bride, the church.), a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24)
Matt. 19:1-6 Note Vs 4–“Have you not read THAT HE WHO MADE THEM AT THE BEGINNING, MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vs 6 After quoting Gen. 2:24, Jesus says to the politicians, “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. THEREFORE, WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marriage is God’s covenant, He does the Joining, He defines the participants in the covenant–male and female. Man messes with this to his own destruction!!! He is messing with God’s “picture image” and Romans 1 says that is idolatry and it is fatal!
THEREFORE: Eph. 5:22 “Wives, submit (remember our study on mutual submission in the Fear of God), to your own husbands, AS TO THE LORD.” Vs 24 adds, “In everything.”
Considering the context we have discussed, Christ Jesus being Head of the Church, and if wives are members of that body, understanding and modeling the subjection to Christ Jesus, there is nothing different in their subjection to their own husbands. SUBJECTION TO CHRIST MUST COME FIRST!!!! I think Peter is getting at this in I Peter 3:1-2. In his exhortation to wives to “be submissive to your own husbands, he includes submission to those husbands “that do not obey the Word.” This can only be in that the wife is first of all and most importantly, submissive to Christ Jesus as her Head.
Eph. 5:24 concludes with, “so let the wives be subject to their own husbands in everything, and this is just as the body of Christ is subject to its Head is in everything! (Col. 3:17 “do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”)
Eph. 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.” According to Ephesians 3:14-21, this Love of Christ is the curriculum of the believers growth. The “LEARNING CHRIST” (Eph 4:20) and HIS LOVE MUST COME FIRST–and by the way, this learning must be continual and constant! And Phil. 2:5-11 is to be his “mind set”.
Eph. 5:25-27 This means that in “modeling” the sacrificial love of Christ, the husband has his wife’s Spiritual well being first and foremost as the goal of his being her head. And if her Spiritual well being, which can only be maintained in fellowship with the Spirit of God, is foremost, her physical well being will follow in right order. The husband will neither be indulgent nor severe, but rather, sacrificial!
Eph. 5:28-29 In summing up his message to husbands, Paul makes the husband’s desires for himself the model for his desires for his wife. But remember, Paul is speaking out of the context of mutual submission IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD!!! Desires for a Miata or Harley don’t count!
THEREFORE: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Just as Christ is joined to His church and she to Him!!!
One final note: This is “Body Truth”. This is truth that is to be lived out in the Body of Christ Jesus as we are being conformed to His Image, He being the Express Image of God. This is not for those “who have no fear of God before their eyes. None of this will work in the context of fallen ignorance. This is for those who “submit to one another in the Fear of God. That being said, those outside of Christ will be judged by this revealed Glory of God and their hardness of heart and deadness of soul that leads them to ignore the supreme Glory of God’s primary covenant for man, marriage. Satan’s end time attack on the Body of Christ is evidenced by the unending attack on God ordained and defined marriage. But take heart, remember John’s vision in Revelation 21! Christ will build His Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!!! (Matthew 16:18)