What is the church? Is it the building on the corner? An organization of like-minded individuals? Any gathering of Christians? With everything, but especially in Scriptural matters, we benefit greatly from having not only a correct understanding, but a comprehensive one. In this post, we’ll continue to examine what the Bible teaches us about the church and consider one of its lesser-known aspects: The Bride of Christ. From its first pages to its last, the Bible presents the origin, development, and consummation of this aspect of the church. God is love, so is it really a surprise that the Bible begins with a couple and concludes with a marriage?
Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Here, Paul presents the bride of Christ. We know that God so loved the world that He gave His Son, but we may not have realized that God’s love was not only for the world generally but for the church specifically. Lest we think that this was a one-off concept from Paul, let’s consider some verses from the Old Testament. Isaiah 54:5 says, “For your Maker is your Husband; / Jehovah of hosts is His name.” In 62:5, the Prophet Isaiah writes: “And with the joy of the bridegroom over the bride / Your God will rejoice over you.” In Jeremiah 3:14, Jehovah declares to His children, “I am a Husband to you,” and in Hosea 2:16, “You will call [God] My Husband.” All of these verses explicitly convey the Scriptural thought and God’s heart toward His people. Yes, God is our creator, but according to His eternal purpose, He has always desired a matrimonial relationship with His people. The clearest picture of God’s heart is found in Genesis 2:18. After God created man in His image and likeness, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart.” God’s assessment of Adam’s need indicates a corresponding desire in God to have a counterpart. What follows is an outstanding picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. While Genesis records that Adam was formed, by contrast, Eve was built. Just as Adam was put to sleep and something from him was used to build his match, so too Christ Jesus was put to death so that in resurrection the church could be brought forth. When God presents Eve to Adam, the man marvels that his wife matches him perfectly. This image corresponds to the conclusion of Paul’s thought in Ephesians 5:27, “that He might present the church to Himself glorious.”
Between Ephesians 5:25 and 5:27 is verse 26. Verse 25 is the initiation, verse 27 the consummation, so verse 26 can be described as the process. This process is only possible because of Who Christ is and what He accomplished through His work. We can view the entirety of Christ’s earthly ministry through the lens of God courting His people. This perspective also brings amazing clarity and insight to the Old Testament book, Song of Songs. In it, a King comes to court a country girl of low estate, and by the end, Solomon has his perfect match, the Shulammite. Similarly, God became a man so that He could court mankind. In John 3:29, Jesus refers to Himself as the bridegroom. Through His death, Christ dealt with everything negative, and in resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit so that He might give life to His chosen people and sanctify them. (Eph. 2:15; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eph. 5:26) Christ’s work has positioned us to respond to Him. We may have never considered our salvation as an engagement, but Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:2 tells the believers in the church in Corinth that his gospel “betrothed [them] to one husband to present [them] as a pure virgin to Christ.” Paul’s word of concern for the Corinthians may cause us to consider our condition and present love for the Lord. Thankfully, we know how our story ends. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The Bible concludes with the marriage of the Lamb, Christ, to His wife, the church. As glorious and encouraging as this verse is, it also indicates that we have a part to play. Ephesians 5:26 tells us that Christ sanctifies the church, but Revelation 19:7 explains that “His wife has made herself ready.” So how can we cooperate with Christ to prepare His bride?
The church is the bride, and we are the church. The preparation of the Bride of Christ corresponds to our individual growth as believers, but also the corporate growth of the Body. As we pointed out in a previous post, growth, according to the Bible, is simply the increase of Christ within us. We need to care for our daily growth in life. By reading God’s Word, prayer, and through our personal fellowship with Christ, we can contact Him and receive more of Him. As we receive more of Him and cooperate with Him, Christ can make His home in our hearts. As He does, the measure of Christ within us increases. But the context of Ephesians 5, where we see the church as the Bride of Christ, gives us particular help. In 5:25, we’re told that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, and in verse 24, Paul charges wives to be subject to their husbands. As the church, we’re Christ’s wife and should be subject to Him in all things. The only way to do this is love. Just as He loved us and gave up Himself, when we love Him, we’re willing to give up our choice, way, and preference. If we feel our love for Christ waning, we should remember Romans 5:5: “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Christ’s self-sacrificing love has been given to us; all we need to do is claim it. By praying simple prayers like “Lord Jesus, I love You,” we claim the promise in 1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.”
We hope that this post has helped you to see more of what the church is to Christ. Each aspect of the church revealed in the Scriptures gives us insight into our relationship with Him. As believers in Christ, we are part of the church, and as the bride of Christ, we need to love Him. Love is the prominent characteristic between a bride and a bridegroom. By spending time daily in fellowship with Jesus Christ, we can cultivate a personal and intimate relationship with Him. His presence may be invisible, but He is so real. As 1 Peter. 1:8 says, “Whom having not seen, you love.”
