2 Tim 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Calendar
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST (I)
SATURDAY, MAY 2
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Ephesians 5:21-32
“I have espoused you
to one husband.”
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST (I)
There is a mystical union between believers and Christ. This union is entered into when a person is born again. This mystical union is more than mere natural fellowship. It is a union of a supernatural order in the Holy Spirit. That is why in the Scriptures the true church is known as (1) the bride of Christ, and (2) the body of Christ.
Throughout the Scriptures the marriage relationship is used metaphorically to signify the relationship between God and His people. In the Old Testament, Israel, as the people of God, are compared with a wife, and idolatry is frequently referred to as unfaithfulness to the marriage relationship. See especially the first three chapters of the prophecy of Hosea.
In a similar figure, Paul writes to the Church of Corinth, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor 11:2-3).
The marriage relationship between Christ and His Church is described extensively in Ephesians 5:21-32. (See also 1 Cor 7; 11:1-16; 14:34-35; 1 Tim 2:9-15; 3:11-12; Titus 1:6; 2:5; 1 Pet 3:7.) Ephesians 5:21 emphasizes the need for Christians to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God. He then introduces the discussion of the marriage relationship with the exhortation in verses 22 and 23. Peter gives a similar injunction in 1 Peter 3:1 and 2.
Paul continues his analogy, “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:24-25).
THOUGHT: Have I been faithful to my spouse?
PRAYER: Lord, I want to be faithful unto Thee, and worship only Thee.