Christ's Bride Church Ephesians 5:15-33 (Bible)

BY CANAAN AUGUST 12, 2023

Here the theme is the relationship between Christ and the Church. This is what the Bible says.

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Instructions for Christian Households

²¹Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²²Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body. ³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³²This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:15-33)

Paul writing

In this passage as well, the word “walk” appears. Be careful whether you are walking like a wise man (verse 15). Continue with verse 16 to make the most of your opportunities. It is said that it is because of bad times . The letter to the Ephesians is believed to have been written around A.D. 61. A few years later, Christians were persecuted by Emperor Nero, and Paul was martyred around A.D. 65. Jerusalem fell in 70 AD. It was a bad time.

It’s still bad times. It is a time of deep darkness. If we don’t stay in the light, we will be swallowed by the darkness. In order to walk wisely, it is most important that we be filled with the Holy Spirit, as it says in verse 18. And in verses 19-21 we are encouraged to praise, give thanks and obey one another. Such are the steps of a wise man, the steps of a child of light.

The letter to the Ephesians is a letter that reveals what the church is. The church has many forms of expression. “Family of God”, “Temple of God”, “House of Prayer”, “Body of Christ” (Ephesians 1:22,23). And in Ephesians 5 we see “Christ’s Bride”. Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and the church (Christian) is the bride of Christ. It means that the Lord Jesus and the church are in a marriage relationship.

The mystery of marriage is recorded in verses 22-23.

Verse 31 quotes Genesis 2:24. At the beginning of Genesis, two people were created in God’s creation. Adam and Eve. The two foresaw different things. Adam was a shadow of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus is described as the last Adam. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:45-47. The Bible says, “The first man Adam became the living,” but the last Adam became the living Spirit. The first was of flesh and blood, not of the Spirit. Spiritual things come later. The first is from the earth, made of clay, but the second is from heaven.

Jesus Christ who is the last Adam to the first man Adam. The Lord Jesus, the second man from heaven to Adam, the first man from earth. And throughout Ephesians 5 we see Eve foreshadowing the church.

Adam was created “in the image of God.” This is what we call “the image of Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:15 says that the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation . So Adam did not come first and then Jesus came. Jesus was created first, and then Adam was created. So God created Adam “in the image of Jesus”.

When God created Adam, he said , ” It is not good for a man to be alone. I will make for him a helper worthy of him ” (Genesis 2:18). Sleep and took one of his ribs and created Eve. The church was taken from Christ as Eve was taken from Adam(Adam’s side). Immediately after the Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and blood and water came out (John 19:34). It seems to symbolize the blood that atones for sins and the water that gives eternal life.

After the Lord Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb and slept. And the church was built. The role of the church is to be a helper to Jesus. In this age, Jesus wants to preach the gospel, build up the church, and advance and expand the kingdom of God. We can be God’s helper.

Eve was created out of Adam’s body. Here we can see the aspect of the body. Eve is “the body of Christ” because she foreshadows the church. After that, Eve became Adam’s bride and the two were married. Here we can see the church, the “Bride of Christ”.

In the Old Testament, God chose Israel and made a covenant with them, but we see that God placed himself in the position of husband and gave Israel the position of wife. So when Israel worshiped other gods instead of himself, it was described as having committed adultery, committing spiritual immorality.

We see one line. Eve ⇒ Israel ⇒ Church ⇒ Wedding feast in heaven. All refer to one woman.

The same can be said for the resurrected Christ. The Lord Jesus, who is now seated at the right hand of God, will leave his Father God at His Second Coming to receive His Bride, the church (Christians), and be one. The description appears in Revelation.

⁶Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
⁷Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
⁸Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

⁹Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

(Revelation 19:6-9)

The mystery of marriage is that it refers to “Christ and the Church.” With this in mind, it is recommended that we apply it to the marriage relationship between husband and wife in our lives. It says, “O wives,” (verse 22). In verses 22-24, it says, “obey your husband.” It feels like oh. Why should we do that? It is written in verse 23. For as Christ is the head of the church, and he himself is the Savior of the body, so the husband is the head of the wife. Verse 33 says honor your husband . Well, it’s important to apply yourself. If other people, especially husbands, say this to their wives, they will quarrel, so be careful!

Next, it says, “Husbands,” (verse 25). Verse 25 says, “Love” your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it . This too will cause a fight if a wife tells her husband.

Marriage is a really difficult thing. There are delicate issues that only the couple can understand, only the two of them can understand. Then, when I think about what is important, I think it is to pay attention to and concentrate on what each person is ordered to do. Isn’t it important to obey and try to obey the Word as much as you can? I believe that when WE practice this, a good cycle will be born in the marital relationship. At that time, it becomes important to pay attention to the great mystery of God, the relationship between Christ and the church, which goes beyond the actual marital relationship. Only from there can we move towards practice (wives obeying husbands, husbands loving wives).

The church (Christian) is “the bride of Christ.” A marriage feast awaits the Lord Jesus and the church (us) in heaven. I think that the expression “bride” is more relevant to women, but I think that they make various preparations for the wedding ceremony. We are also in the preparatory period for the wedding ceremony with the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. God’s desire is to set before him a glorious church (v. 27). Our goal is to be sanctified. It means that each and every one of us who is pleasing to God will become a church. It is done by the Word of God(verse 26). By responding to what the Bible says, we can move step by step closer to what God wants us to be.

Another important thing at that time is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 18 says be filled with the Spirit . This is because, in many cases, it is we humans who cannot obey the Word with the power of the flesh, with the power of our own. we are weak, but we have the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit is God, like Jesus, God the Father, and has personality and feelings. Ephesians 4:30 says not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God . I believe that if we make the Holy Spirit happy instead of saddening the Holy Spirit, we will be able to experience the fullness of the Spirit, and we will be able to respond to and follow the Word of God.