The Apostlepoints out that the wife is to the husband as the Church to Christ.
The relation of husband to wife,
like that of Christ to the Church
, points to a unity included in the idea of creation. And of the primitive ordinance that a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall become one flesh (vs. 31, from Gen. 2:24), the greatest of all the manifold applications is [and the highest fulfilment is] the union of Christ and the Church:
to; musthvrion tou'to mevga ejstivn, ejgw' de; levgw eij" Cristo;n kai; ªeij"º th;n ejkklhsivan
.
The marriage-relation of the Lord to Israel runs through the Old Testament. And the application of this relation to Christ and the Churchthe spiritual Israelimplies His Divinity.
Christ offers to the Church the devotion of love. And such is the duty of the husband to the wife.
The Church offers to Christ the devotion of subjection, as is the duty of the wife to the husband.
Christ loved the Church (vs. 25; Acts 20:28) not because it was perfectly lovable, but in order to make it such; not because it was holy, but in order to make it holy by union with Himself.
The love of Christfor the Churchwas crowned by His sacrifice of Himself. And the purpose of the self-sacrifice of Christ for the Church is (1) to hallow it,
(2) to present it to Himselfgloriouswithout spot or wrinkle, (3) that it may continueholy and blameless (without blemish).
Further in Eph. 2:20 ff. [though the word ejkklhsiva does not occur] the new Society of believers is a fabric, destined to become a sanctuary: ejpoikodomhqevnte" ejpi; tw'/ qemelivw/ tw'n ajpostovlwn kai; profhtw'n, o[nto" ajkrogwniaivou aujtou' Cristou' jIhsou', ejn w|/ pa'sa oijkodomh; sunarmologoumevnh au[xei eij" nao;n a{gion ejn kurivw/, ejn w|/ kai; uJmei'" sunoikodomei'sqe eij" katoikhthvrion tou' qeou' ejn pneuvmati .
To the Corinthians St Paul had said (1 Cor. 3:17) Ye are a temple of God ( nao;" qeou' ) and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you; and also ( ib. 12:28), And some God set in the Church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; and again (2 Cor. 6:16), For we are a temple of the living God ( nao;" qeou' ejsme;n zw'nto" ).
Now in Ephesians he writes (Eph. 2:19-22): Ye are fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone; in Whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
We see then that in the Epistle in which he opens the widest prospect of the being and destiny of the Church, St Paul uses two images [besides that of the Bride] to describe it,that of a bodya body of which Christ is the Head (1:22 f.)and that of a spiritual building or sanctuary (2:20 f.).
At the same time he combines the two images together. Thus in the passage cited, 2:21 f. ( v. supr. ), the many buildings are said to grow into a sanctuarya holy temple: and on the other hand the body is built: the body, fitly framed and knit togethermaketh increase unto the building up of itself in love (4:16). The body is built; the temple grows.
We need both images, of building and of growth, in order to understand our position socially and personally. The progress which we observe in human society and in our own several lives is due in part to human effort and in part to vital forces,