Ephesians 5 can't be used a proof text for the "Body of Christ" to be the "Bride of Christ. Paul here is merely explaining the sanctity of marriage and the interrelationship between husband and wife by making a comparison only. In no way can one make the passage say that the "Body of Christ" is His bride.
I agree that Paul is giving practical advice to husbands and wives. But this is no reason to overlook that he is speaking also of Christ and the church. In fact he plainly informs us that that is his greater burden -
Ephesians 5:31,32 -
"For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.
[b]"This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church" .
Did you notice that ?
"I SPEAK WITH REGARD TO CHRIST AND THE CHURCH" So while Paul is offering practical fellowship to husbands and wives he is speaking also of the great mystery of the union between Christ and the church.
It is a mistake to say that
"Christ and the church" is nowhere in Paul's concept in chapter 5. The entire Ephesian epistle has a transcendent focused on
"Christ and the church".
Then there's the difficulty of logic to overcome when suggesting that Christ marries His own body.
The importance of Paul quoting Genesis about Eve coming OUT of Adam and being brought TO Adam for marriage is precisely the parallel. Adam married only what came OUT of himself as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
In like manner - Christ marries that which comes OUT of Christ by way of His salvation. What came out of His life and is dispensed into the redeemed becomes His match, His counter part.
" ... we are members of His Body. " (v.30) This establishes that the church is His Body and we members in particular.
"For this cause ..." Now Paul goes back over the great principle of
Genesis 2:23,24. He alludes to it. He shows that behind the great mystery of marriage is the symbolism of Christ being joined to His church. He quotes
Genesis 2:24 And he ends his talk on marriage this way -
"This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church. Nevertheless you also, each one of you, in the same way love your own wife as yourself; and the wife should fear her husband." (vs.32,33)
What is he speaking of ? He is speaking of
"Christ and the church" a great mystery first glimpsed in the type of Adam and Eve. Nevertheless, the Christian do the same as regards to human marriage.
There is hardly any way to miss that Paul's transcendent vision over his down to earth practical advice is the theme of Christ and the church - the real and ultimate marriage.
I'm going to make this observation. I know the idea will be foreign to you and may require some imagination, but as I said before, the "Body of Christ" is an entirely separate entity from the "Bride of Christ".
You would have to demonstrate WHY you think that way. Just looking at the passages it appears that they are simply two angles of the one relationship.
A Bride for Christ.
A Body for Christ.
A temple for God.
A tabernacle for God.
A house for God.
A Vine with branches.
Sheep in the Good Shepherd's
"One flock" .
These are all allegories emphasizing different angles of one reality.
Here is why. There are two distinct and separate programs laid out in scripture. One is prophetic and the other is not. In your Bible from Genesis to the Gospel of John and into the first seven chapters of Acts you will find the prophecy concerning the Kingdom of God and its eventual establishment on the earth with Jesus as King. There you will find the Bride of Christ.
You do not see PROPHECY being foretold when Jesus said
"I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18)
Why is that NOT prophecy ? That is perhaps the greatest prophecy in the New Testament. And it definitely involves Christ's church.
I'll address this in another post on Revelation 19.
The Body of Christ though, has as its destiny heaven.
Where do you see the ultimate destiny of the Body of Christ in heaven ?
I need you scripture proving that the ultimate destiny of the Body of Christ is in the third heavens.
No we can speak of popular concepts which are not very biblical.
I'll wait to see what you support is for this.
The Body of Christ is an unprophesied entity. We are a part of the "one new man", "the new creature".
The Body of Christ is not an unprophesied entity at all.
Paul prophetically predicts how that Body will build up itself in love
"until we all arrive".
"And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets ... etc. etc. for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry,
unto the building up of the Body of Christ, Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a fullgrown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ..." (Eph. 4:11-13)
This is explaining what Christ has provided with prediction, with prophecy, with foretelling. This is explaining the building up of the Body of Christ with a prophetic foresight into the completion of the maturity. This is also
prophecy.
And it is as much prophecy as the corresponding words of Jesus in His mighty prayer to the Father in John 17 -
"I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me ... etc. etc." (John 17:23)
That is petition with prediction. And Paul's word is explanation with prediction. The Body of Christ is definitely a subject of New Testament
prophecy thank God, or we might despair.
The gospel preached by Jesus and then given as a commission to Jesus's disciples is about "the Kingdom of God" on earth.
I agree. But I do not see how anything of this negates that the church is the Body of Christ and to be the Bride and Wife of Christ.
Accepting one simply does not mean denying the other. That is a false dichotomy.
The "gospel according to the mystery" was given to Paul by Jesus from heaven concerning the "one new man" which is the "Body of Christ" of whom we are members. That gospel is about the heavens and our eventual residency there.
Now we mention a little about a huge subject -
"one new man".
Body of Christ is on one level and speaks of functioning of members in coordination.
One new man speaks of personality. In a sense
"one new man" is on a slightly higher level. A Body is for movement. A Man is for personality. So
"one new man" is a more exalted view perhaps, of the same corporate entity. This Body becomes a new man with personality.
The
"one new man" is on one hand created already in Christ's death on the cross
(Eph.2:15).
But on the other hand the
"new man" needs to be put on by transformation, sanctification, and conformation -
"That you put off ... the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lust of the deceit, And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality." (Eph. 4:22-24)
By the continual renewing of the mind the Christians
"put off ... the old man" and
"put on ... the new man" .
That
"new man" that put on through life long mind renewing IS the
"one new man" of Christ's creation.
Also in Colossians, through transformation and perfecting the saints put on the
"new man" which is the
"one new man" -
"And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all." (Col. 3:11)
In the local churches we have the confidence to proclaim that we are being built up into the Body and into
"one new man" where there cannot be divisions along old lines of the fallen Adamic nature. Some Christians lack the confidence to affirm this because they may be scattered in divisions. Their experience may be lacking. But this does not change the truth of the New Testament.
Incidently, Paul also specifically says that the Body IS the church in
Colossians 1:18.
"And He is the Head of the Body, the church ..." .