Editor's Note for Prophecy Theologs: I already know about the coming wedding feast of the Lamb and all that stuff, so let's not get off on that and miss the point of what's being written bout here, OK?
I read three books yesterday.
I read pages 36 and 38 of one, pages 106 and 237 of another and the first two paragraphs of the third.
That's pretty stupid, isn't it?
The other day I submitted a post of my random thoughts.
Today, I want to pick up on one of them and develop it a little bit, on-a-counta-because, I don't think too many people, especially pastors, know how to read well enough properly interpret scripture.
Now I don't mean that as an insult to pastors, even though I realize many will be insulted by it, I just hear so many sermons that miss the point of the scripture upon which they are supposed to be expounding, that it is troubling.
They are either advancing some agenda of their own, or they just don't know how to read. (They could be just liars...but let's not go there. Let's give them at least the benefit of the doubt).
(BTW: If the shoe don't fit, quit trying to put it on.)
OK...here we go.
How many sermons have you heard from Ephesians 5:22 that try to explain how God has established the order of the home and the order is: the husband is the head of the home, sort of like the President is the head of the armed services. Or There has to be some hirarchy in the family and so God has helped us out by showing us what that hirarchy is?
That would all be well and good, except that the writer, Paul, tells us that he is not talking about the family.
"Wait a minute!" I hear you screaming, "A husband, a wife, the children...that's a family, isn't it?"
Yes, it is.
"Then what on earth are you talking about 'Paul tells us that he is not talking about the family'?"
Hey. Don't shout at me, shout at Paul. He said it, not me.
In verse 32, while having introduced the Genesis concept of the oneness of husband and wife, Paul says, "This mystery great is, I but say as to Christ and as to the church."
Oops! That's a word-for-word translation from the Greek text.
Let's see if we can get it right in English.
"This (a pronoun referencing his subject: the leaving of father and mother and the joining of two people in marriage) is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church."
Most pastors, including one I heard on the radio this very morning, gloss over this, or ignore it completely and spend their entire time pontificating about the structure of marriage, or, if they are enlightened, telling how Ephesians 5: 22 ff is really a balanced description of what a family should be like.
"I am talking about Christ and the church."
Look! He just told us what he is talking about!
Revelation! Excitement! We don't have to guess or imagine or extrapolate! He just told us!
Now let's put it all together.
Genesis tells us that God designed marriage such that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
This is reiterated in Ephesians 5:31 and is used by Paul as a picture of what the church should be.
It's like this: We (the church) are the bride of Christ. Just as a man leaves his father, Christ left His Father to take on a bride...us.
Just as Jesus said divorce should never be an option for a man and wife, so it is unthinkable that the Son would ever divorce Himself from His bride, the church.
If we take the whole section of scripture, connect it to the others dealing with husband-wife relationships, apply it to Christ and the church, the whole thing suddenly takes on a whole, new, exciting, unifying meaning.
"Wives (church), submit to your husbands (Christ) as He does (a proper inference from the Greek text) to the Lord (God)."
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
Can't you see it?
Christ's bride is to be holy, clean, washed in the word, stainless, smooth, unblemished, holy and blameless!
Argue over money? That will NEVER happen in Christ's church.
Mad over some decision "they" made? Not if you're a part of Christ's church.
Someone got the spotlight when you thought you should have been recognized? Not a problem to a member of the bride of Christ.
Hung up on some "should or shouldn't" of doctrine? Christ's body would not go there because the body would be too focused on Him.
If part of the bride was hurting, the rest would come to the rescue with money, living space, healing ointment, emotional support, a job or whatever it took to bring unity, healing and to restore brideship.
Christ died for us (His bride) at Calvary. He did his husbandly duty for His bride.
How dare we take the gift of His groomship and not respond as a sweet, pure, innocent bride?
Like a bride seeks to please her new husband, so His bride must seek to please Him.
What kind of bride for Him are you in your church?
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11 comments:
Joe, God has truly gifted you with wisdom.
Excellent post.
This is truly a Divine romance. The Bible is the greatest love story ever written and we (His bride) are betrothed to the most excellent Bridegroom ever.
Sometimes I wonder if christians are serving a different God? We say He is a God of love, and yet place unbearable burdens upon each other and are just plainly too quick to judge anothers faults.
Ok, now I've really done it to myself. :)
Good insights brother!
It's important to remember that in trying to exegete a passage(s) that context is key. Also, the bible is full of symbolism so one needs to be aware of when something is being spoken of in a symbolic way.
Awesome sermon. Thank you for sharing that.
OK, I admit I'd never, in my 45 years--32 of them as a baptized believer--connected verse 32 to the Church as opposed to the family.
However--and I fully respect your opinion on this--I have a feeling that perhaps Paul was having one of his "I do what I don't wanna, but I don't do what I wanna" moments. He could be at times almost completely obfuscatory in his writings, get tangled up in the language--which, rather than making what he said irrelevant, instead simply requires us to read an entire passage to gain appropriate context.
Now, to clear up this Pauline moment I just had myself: I think Paul is, in fact, clearly speaking very specifically about the family in Ephesians 5--and also about the Church. I don't think it has to one-or-the-other.
I think you're right on. Espcially about this part:
"If part of the bride was hurting, the rest would come to the rescue with money, living space, healing ointment, emotional support, a job or whatever it took to bring unity, healing and to restore brideship."
What the church typically tends to do is SHOOT these people. My son-in-law was just fired from being a preacher at just such a church. He was more inclined to spend his time trying to do the above (helping those truly in need)instead of visiting the rich widows. Unfortunately the eldership didn't much like that.
Wow, Joe...did the disagreement over the mispainted wall mural reach a new low?
Jeff h: In my 47 years as a Christian minister, I have never heard this passage explained as regarding anything but the family. And I have never heard "...I am talking about Christ and the church covered as important.
Obviously, I read it differently. Correctly, but differently.
As a matter of fact, Paul NEVER obfuscated his message. His message was then, is now and always will be the saving grace of Christ.
HOWEVER, since the Bible is not a guidebook for living, but is the best guidebook for living ever written,the passage certainly can serve as a guide for the family.
It ABOUT Christ and the church.
Great post, Joe! That is really good. I also have always heard it emphasized as being about the family. Thanks for bringing out the more important meaning.
Joe this is excellent! What amazing insight the Lord has given you.
WHY oh why do so many preachers blow the meaning out of (especially) these verses?
Preach on, brother.
God is not into hierarchies...
head = source. not a vertical relationship...I can't see a divine romance getting very far that way.
Have you ever noticed that a cross goes two ways.... i wonder why that was soooo important. hmmm.
if Paul/Shaul was talking about a vertical hierarchy he would have said this:
God is the head of the Messiah.
The Messiah is head of the husband
The husband is head of the wife.
But that's not the order he said those lines, now is it...
The head of everyman is the Messiah.
The head of the wife is the husband
The head of the Messiah is G-d.
(I Cor 11:3)
A father/husband is provider... pro-vider means give the vision /help the rest of your family catch that vision of faith...it don't mean taking the Messiah's job or acting out Ezekiel 34.
So please be kind. Submit one to another first...
The reason Paul gave the guys a picture of submisson by sacrifice is that he was a nice Jewish boy who knew that women already get the concept of sacrificial giving to one another. The guys he had to give a picture.
Kind regards,
a Jew 4 JC
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