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Christ, His Church, and Marriage Part 4

Through comparing and contrasting the relationship of Christ, His Church, & Marriage, Paul teaches Christian men and women about the marriage relationship. However, he doesn’t want us to lose sight of the fact that he is teaching primarily about the relationship of Christ and his Church. Paul stresses that as he begins to transition away from the analogy. Let’s focus on the final two verses of Ephesians 5:22-33.

If you would like to to read the first three installments before going further, you may do so now by clicking on these links Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.

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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 5:32-33).

For The Church

Now, even with Paul’s warning here, we still get out of balance, we still miss the point. What are we to learn primarily from this passage? We are to learn that Christ washes, nourishes, and cherishes His Church. The Church is the bride being adorned for her husband and Paul is telling us about this natural law reflection that God divinely stamped into the institution of marriage when He made it. Before the Incarnation, at the creation of everything, when God made the world He had the Divine Son in view. When God spoke the world into existence He shaped everything so that His Only Begotten Son would be glorified.

Applying Redemption: Kingdom

Paul is applying redemption to our stations, which frankly make up the lion share of our discipleship. When we are redeemed, the stations we have lived in all our lives take new dimensions that informs us about what it means to follow Jesus Christ the Incarnate Son. For example, Jesus’ dominant theme is the Kingdom of God. We can grasp what he means partly because we are citizens in an earthly kingdom.

Applying Redemption: Commonwealth of Israel, Covenants, & Citizenry

Paul further builds on the theme of Kingdom specifically, putting some muscle on the skeleton of Kingdom, applying it. In Ephesians 2:11-19 he explains how Gentiles are made citizens in the Commonwealth of Israel. He says in verse 12 that the Gentiles were, “at one time
(before the Gospel)”…“separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.” However, once any person receives the Holy Spirit they are no longer Jew or Gentile but “one new man (a new redeemed human race) in place of the two, so making peace.”

He closes by telling them that they “are no longer strangers (covenants of promise-Abraham, etc.) and aliens, but you are fellow citizens (in the Commonwealth of Israel) with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” What he refers to later as the Israel of God. Paul is clearly drawing on our understanding of the citizenship, naturalization, and immigration to communicate to us what Jesus accomplished for all who believe.

Applying Redemption: The Gospel Is Applied To All Stations

It doesn’t stop there. We are also workers, masters (matrons), workers, soldiers, men, women, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters etc. The Lord and the Apostles draw from every dimension of life and apply the Gospel to them. They use the knowledge gained in the natural world in our ordinary relationships to instruct us via our supernatural relationships.

Applying Redemption to Marriage: Men

As Paul transitions away from Christ, his Church & Marriage to a new instruction for children (Ephesians 6:1) he returns to lay stress to what he has said to husbands and wives. Husbands, live your wife as yourself. Don’t be, spiritually speaking, disheveled schizophrenic homeless guys. They are people who don’t love themselves. How do you know? Because the don’t bathe and often harm themselves. A man in his right mind washes (bathes), nourishes (eat food) and cherishes (care for and protect) his body. So don’t be spiritually bi-polar by treating your wife badly.

Applying Redemption to Marriage: Women

Ladies, the place Paul places his finger with you is respecting your husbands. Another word we might think of here is honor. Honor is not about the individual. We honor positions. That is why husbands bear the brunt of most of the commands here, because they occupy a position of honor. It is like Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility and there is no greater privilege for him than to wash, nourish, and cherish the most beautiful creature God ever made, woman.

Ephesians 5 :22-33 Is For The Church

As we close our series on Christ, His Church & Marriage it is important that we close where we began. Everything Paul says in Ephesians 5:22-33 is for the Church primarily, both individually and collectively. Christ has washed away our sins by the shedding of His blood. He nourishes His people continually through the Holy Spirit, Word, and the Lord’s Table. King Jesus cherishes His people by protecting and guarding them until on that great eternal morning He makes all things new. Then there will only be the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride. No more reflection of it will be needed. So our marriage vows state, “until death do us part.” “For” as Jesus teaches, “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30).”

Go in peace to love, serve, and long for the return of the Great Bridegroom for His Bride!

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That was our final essay exploring Ephesians 5:22-33 using the relationship between Christ and His Church as lens. I am hoping to put these short essays together into a longer one in the near future. When I do I will likely add a flourish or two to the final product. I will re-publish them together under a slightly different title, however. I am planning on opening up a Substack under the nom de plume “Puritan Common Sense,” where I’ll post those essays when I do. It’ll also have a little edgier, folksy version of me over there commentating on the chaos of the day from what I know to be the original reformed biblical perspective. I plan to quote liberally from the Bible, the Puritans, the founding fathers (hence Common Sense), Church fathers, and good Christian philosophers.

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