The Bride of Christ
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “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. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
(Ephesians 5:25-33)
Introduction
In this series of blog posts, we have talked a lot about the church in great detail. We have journeyed through this forest and examined various trees and root systems. We have considered the individual branches of various doctrines and systems of government. We saw how individual churches are but one expression, one tree, among the vast forest of trees that make up the invisible, corporate, and universal church.
Now, as we wrap up this series, we need to journey back out from among these individual trees. We need to climb back up the hill so that we can see the forest in its totality. We want to see the grand portrait of the family of God, of which each individual tree and branch are only a part.
That is the goal in this final post: that we would not miss the forest for the trees. Everything we have previously discussed is important, but we cannot make them of such high importance that we miss the beauty of what Christ is doing in and through his Church.
Paul helps us to see the forest in Ephesians 5:25-33
Background to Ephesians
Paul has already expounded and preached the gospel of free grace through Christ’s atoning sacrifice in the first three chapters of Ephesians. He starts the next chapter with a forceful “therefore.”
Therefore—because of what Christ has done, because of the salvation that is already yours—now, here is how you ought to live.
Specifically, Paul says, “I…urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1). Because God has made us kingdom citizens, without any merit of our own part, now therefore, we ought to live like who we have been made to be.
That is Paul’s emphasis in the second half of Ephesians. Then in chapter five, Paul gives practical codes of conduct in order to walk in a manner worthy of the calling for families: wives, husbands, children, parents, and even servants and masters.
This is the context in which Paul gives these instructions to husbands and wives (Ephesians 5:25-33). This passage has more to say, however, than just how spouses are to love one another. In this passage we see a glorious truth that the church is the Bride of Christ.
This is the forest that is made up of the trees. In order to see this glorious forest, I want to work backwards through this text, considering three things.
First, Who we are, as the Bride of Christ (29-32)
Second, Where we are going (27)
Third, How we will get there. (25-26)
Who We Are (29-32)
We are the bride of Christ. Have you considered this wonderful promise of Scripture?
This takes us back to the very first post in this series: there exists only within the church, and nowhere else in the world, this kind of relationship with Christ. The living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, rightly reigns and rules over all things.
But only within his Church does he have this kind of saving relationship. Only in the church is God’s love for his people shown. The church is God’s people for his own possession, the people that he saves, that he unites to himself. In this way, then, he can refer to this relationship as a marriage.
Paul says in verses 29-30 “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”
How is it possible that we are one flesh, members of one body with Christ? Paul immediately in the next verse quotes from Genesis
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (31)
This is what happens when man and woman are joined together in marriage. This was God’s intent when he created Eve and brought her to Adam in the garden. This was God’s intention for marriage. Christ himself quotes this verse in the gospels, to demonstrate its importance.
And here, Paul quotes it, but now in order to look beyond the institution of marriage itself, looking to the marriage between Christ and his Bride.
He says in verse 32 “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
This mystery—how two individuals can become one flesh through marriage—refers and points to Christ and the church. This is incredible! All marriages here on earth, though wonderful and full of great benefit and beauty in and of themselves, are actually given to point us beyond ourselves, to Christ and his church!
In marriage, where the two, husband and wife, become one—that is also true of Christ and the Church. We are united to him as one flesh. And if we are one flesh with Christ, then how could he do anything but care for us and nourish us? Of course he will. Because Christ is united to us.
That is who we are. That is who the church is. We are one with Christ, united to him, in this mysterious union. And it is mysterious. The analogy breaks down because it goes beyond our understanding. How does this union happen? What is the process that takes place? How are we united to Christ?
I love how Calvin puts it, writing on this verse. He says, “For my own part, I am overwhelmed by the depth of this mystery, and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging at once my ignorance and my admiration.” (Calvin’s Commentary on Ephesians 5:32).
I cannot explain it to you. But it is a doctrine so wonderful that we ought to consider it daily. To wake up in the morning and think “I belong to Christ and he belongs to me.” What comfort that brings. And it should lead us to extreme admiration and wonder at the Christ who would give of himself in order to make that relationship be true.
That is who we are. But that is not all. That is who we are, but we have not yet arrived at the destination. We are at once currently united to Christ in the effectual call of his Spirit, but Christ has not yet returned. We are united to him, yet we are apart from him. He is always with us, but we long to see him face to face. So, let’s look next at where we are going.
Where We Are Going (27)
Paul writes about where the church is going in verse 27, “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
The picture in this verse is that of the wedding day. Everything has been leading up to this moment. The hour has finally come. The family is all seated. The bridal party has walked down the aisle and are ready at the front. The Groom is standing at the front.
They close the doors to the chapel. And the bride takes her place behind them. There is no sound. A hush fills the room in anticipation. Everyone waits eagerly for what comes next. Then, finally, the bridal march sounds from the organ and the doors burst open to reveal the Bride, beautiful and lovely. Everyone stands and turns to see the Bride, from head to toe, beautifully adorned in her wedding gown.
Everything is beautiful, everything is glorious. It is a joyous occasion!
But, you know what, not everything is always perfect. I don’t know if there was a wedding day that went exactly as planned. There is always something that goes wrong.
Maybe there’s a problem with the dress. Maybe there was fighting between family members the night before. Maybe the bride or the groom feels nervous and worried. Even already on the wedding day there are doubts or distractions, or difficulties lurking underneath all the decorations and festivities.
But on the wedding day, what will be true of the Church, the Bride of Christ?
The doors open and she is presented “in splendor” (27).
This word comes from the same word for glory. At the end of our services we always sing the doxology, which is a song of praise ascribing glory to God. This word splendor refers to that kind of glory, being worked in us. Isn’t that amazing. Christ works in us a glory that we do not possess inherently, but that he gives us nonetheless. Making you and me into something that we are not on our own: something splendid, something glorious and beautiful. Because he is making us like himself.
And on that day, he will present his Bride to himself in this splendor, this righteousness that is not her own, but has been worked in her by the Spirit, making her to be glorious as he is glorious.
Though we will never become Christ in his glory, nor ever rival the splendor and glory that only the perfect God can have. Yet we will be made like him, presented to him in glory.
What will this look like? We will be without spot or even wrinkle. Inside and out, finally made perfect and without sin.
There is no spot on the wedding dress on that day. Not even a wrinkle can be found anywhere, on the dress, the train, or the veil. Or no such thing. Not a petal out of place in the bouquet. She will be perfectly holy. Without a single blemish.
Nothing inside of her will distract her. Her thoughts will finally be solely fixed on Christ. No sinful desire will arise within her that would detract from this perfect wedding day. No memories of past sin will seek to condemn her as she walks down the aisle, because Christ has become her all in all.
Finally, after all this waiting in exile, God’s people will finally be free from the pain and sting of sin and death. We will be with Christ, forevermore.
That is where we are going.
Paul paints an even more vivid picture of this day in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
That is who we are called to be, a pure virgin to Christ. That is who we will be presented as, in splendor, on that wedding day. A pure virgin to Christ.
But, how is this possible? How can this be? Because we know ourselves, we know our churches, that we are not perfect and pure. We can remember our past failings, and they do condemn us. Our sins are ever before us.
How can we possibly hope to be the kind of Bride that Christ has called us to be?
At a talk he gave at a recent General Assembly of the PCA, Dr. O. Palmer Robertson asked these same questions: How can there be any hope for me, dirty and sinful person that I am?
Like Paul warns in this passage, our thoughts can lead us astray. Even thoughts like, “Christ could never want a sinner like me?” That thought is a lie of the devil. What do we do even when we are so aware of the mistakes of our past, and feel condemned by them?
Dr. Robertson reminded us of what we are always too quick to forget. We must always remember the “power of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.” That is what we must always remember.
And that leads us to the last thing. How will we get there? Let’s look.
How We Will Get There (25-26)
Back to the beginning of this passage, verse 25-26, Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.”
It is the power of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that gets us there. Christ gets us there. He sends his Spirit to get us there. Christ alone makes you holy.
The order of progression in these verses is important. Why are husbands to love their wives? Because Christ loved the church. But when did Christ love the church? And why did he love her? Was it because she was worthy and beautiful and splendid?
That can’t be because we haven’t arrived there yet. We haven’t made it to that wedding day yet in the future. Verse 27 hasn’t happened yet, that’s the destination, but we haven’t yet arrived.
No, but Christ loved the church even while she was yet unlovely. It was while she was yet made up of sinners like you and me that Christ gave himself up for her.
While she was yet unlovely, without splendor, unworthy of such love, that was when Christ laid down his life for his church, for you and me.
So, how do we get there? First, Paul says that Christ laid down his life for the church, that is the atonement accomplished through his perfect life and sacrificial death.
And then Paul continues and says in verse 26, that we will get there because Christ is sanctifying her.
This is the life we live of sanctification. A big word that simply means being made holy. Day by day. We are being made holy, daily dying to the old self and living for the new, putting off the old man and putting on the new. So that, on that day, that wedding day where we are going, we will be presented in splendor.
And notice who it is doing the sanctifying work. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace. Does that mean it doesn’t matter what we do or how we act? By no means.
But I would have none of you leave here thinking that your efforts, or lack thereof, have a part to play in your salvation. There is a joy-stealing error that says that we are in by grace but it is up to us to stay in by good works. That, if we fail to remain faithful, he will not be faithful to us.
But, that’s not what I see in this text. Do you? What I see is Christ, from beginning to end, doing everything. He is the one who loves us, he gives himself for us, so that he might sanctify, cleansing her with water and word, so that he might present the church to himself, without spot or wrinkle.
And here’s the only verb attributed to the church, verse 27, so that she might do what? Do nothing, but simply be what Christ has made her to be, that is holy and pure.
Christian, do not put yourself back under the curse of the law which says “do this and live.” You are not under the law, you are under the gospel, which proclaims to you “it has been done.”
Do we seek to obey Christ? Yes, of course we do. But not in order to become the Bride of Christ, but because we already are. That is who we are already. We have a glorious and splendid future ahead of us. And Christ is faithful, and he will get us there.
May we not miss the forest for the trees. Let’s remember that Christ loves the unlovely. He loves them so much that he adorns them in splendor. Let’s remember that Christ is building his church and making her glorious day by day. Let’s remember that a great wedding celebration awaits us, and rest knowing that Christ is taking us there.
