By
Ron Bartanen
Among the descriptive terms used in the New
Testament with reference to that body of people that we generally refer to as
the church, none is more descriptive of our close relationship to Christ than
that of a bride. In Ephesians 5:22-33
Paul, while admonishing wives to be submissive to their husbands, and husbands
to love their wives, illustrates their relationship to one another as a
reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church. The husband is to be “the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church” (v. 23), but this headship is to be
exercised in the spirit of Christ, as he further writes, “Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it” (v.
25). He anticipates the time when, at
the return of Christ, He presents His bride to Himself as “a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish” (v. 26).
The beauty and glory of the wedding-attire
of the bride of Christ is not of her own doing, but of her husband’s. He has so designed the church that in spite
of the deficiencies of those composing the church, it will, in that day, be
seen as “a glorious church.” We would do
well to consider why and how this could be so.
First, the church owes its existence to
Christ. The passage in Eph. 5 declares
that Christ “gave himself for it” (v. 25b).
He purchased the materials that compose the church (the redeemed) with
His own blood (Acts 20:28). Had Christ
not shed His blood at Calvary, the church would be non-existent. Under another figure, He is the church’s
builder (Matt. 16:18; Heb. 8:2). The
church’s glory is a reflection of the glory of its builder.
Second, the glory of the church is seen in
its head, Jesus Christ. The Lord’s
church has no mere human, or council of men, as its head. As Paul wrote in Col. 1:18: “He is the head
of the body, the church…that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
Third, the glory of the church is evident
in the church’s foundation. “Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.
3:11). The institutions of men,
including religious institutions that are founded upon principles that are
based upon the wisdom of the world are doomed to ultimate failure. Jesus’ parable of the two houses, one built
upon a rock, and the other upon sand illustrate the need for building our lives
and hopes upon Christ and His word, affirming that that which is built upon Him
will stand the storm of God’s judgment, while those that ignore this foundation
and build upon others will fall, and He said great would be its fall (Matthew
7:24-27).
Fourth, the church is glorious because of
its glorious purpose. Paul wrote of its
purpose when he said, “Unto him (Christ) be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end” (Eph. 3:21). Through Christ, the redeemed glorify God as
the people reconciled to God “in one body by the cross” (Eph. 2:16). Returning to Eph. 5, Christ is both the “head
of the church, and he is the Savior of the body” (v. 23). The purpose of the church is to exist in this
world as that body of people called out of the world to show forth the good
news of salvation in Christ.
While the church is commonly vilified in
the world, its glory will one day be evident.
Among the closing visions of John on the Isle of Patmos is that of “the
bride, the Lamb’s (Christ’s) wife” (Rev. 21:9).
She is portrayed as a city, “the holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God…” (21:10b-11a). A city is identified most of all by its
inhabitants. The mansions in which we
shall dwell (John 14:1-4) will be glorious, but also what we suffer for
Christ’s sake personally is “ not worthy to b e compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
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