At this point, three common objections are raised when they read the previous installments.

1. The first is, “Didn’t Paul liken our relationship to Jesus Christ as a wife married to her husband, in Eph. 5?”
2. The second, “Didn’t Paul say that we were married to Jesus Christ in Rom. 7?”
3. The third, “Didn’t Paul say that we need to be a pure virgin for Jesus Christ in 2 Cor. 11?”

We believe the Bible has answers to these questions, being eager to share these verses. But we must be mindful not to read something into the Bible text as denominationalists typically do.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. ³²This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” (Eph. 5:25-33)

Indeed, the Bible does teach that the marriage relationship between the husband and his wife should reflect and resemble, the loving, tender, selfless union between the Lord Jesus Christ (our “Head”; Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:18; Col. 2:19) and us (“His Body”; 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:24). However, we never read in the above passage that we are Jesus Christ’s “wife” or His “bride.” We have already seen the Scriptures’ testimony that Israel is the wife of JEHOVAH (the Lord Jesus Christ)—does JEHOVAH have two wives or does He have one? The Bible calls Israel JEHOVAH’S “wife,” but it never calls us His wife; if words mean anything and we have no denominational agenda, we conclude that we are not JEHOVAH’S wife but rather that Israel is His wife. Eph. 5 describes how marriage is designed to function, and the way to understand the marriage relationship is to see how Jesus Christ and His Body (us) interact with each other—the respective roles, the attitudes of each toward one another, et cetera.

“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? ²For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. ³So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. ⁴Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Romans 7:1-4)

Certainly, Romans 7:4 says that we are “married” (present tense) to Jesus Christ. In that case, Revelation would certainly not apply to us; Revelation describes a future marriage for His bride! The Church, “the Body of Christ” is certainly joined (“married”) to Jesus Christ as its “Head”—otherwise, the members of “His Body” would not be saved unto eternal life! All of Rom. 7 is discussing is how we are free from the Law, dead to the law of sin and dead works, not bound to live the Christian life in our flesh and energy. We are joined to Jesus Christ, and it is His life, not our life, His performance, not our performance. To use this passage to teach that we are the “Bride of Christ” is to read something into the text. Rom. 7 is not written to teach marriage in the Dispensation of Grace—that would be found in 1Cor. 7.

“I WISH you would bear with me while I indulge in a little [so-called] foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I am zealous for you with a godly eagerness and a divine jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one Husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But [now] I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For [you seem readily to endure it] if a man comes and preaches another Jesus than the One we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the [Spirit] you [once] received or a different gospel from the one you [then] received and welcomed; you tolerate [all that] well enough!” (2 Cor. 11:1-4)

Here again, we read no terminology about us being the “Bride of Christ.” Paul is using a simile in verse 2, likening us to being spiritually (doctrinally) pure as a chaste virgin to being sexually pure. In context, false teachers had crept into Corinth; in chapter 11 we read about how the Corinthians enjoyed being misled. Paul warned them that he was jealous over them with a godly jealousy—he did not want some false religious system to corrupt them. He wanted them to abandon and avoid false religion (cf. 2Cor. 6:14-18). In the above verses, we read how Satan would use the same tactics he used to mislead Eve, to mislead us. Satan would quote Bible, but misquote it, ignoring the dispensational layout (cf. Psa. 91:11-12; Mat. 4:6; Luke 4:10-11). The Devil would cause us to follow “another Jesus,” such as Jesus in His earthly ministry to Israel (cf. 2 Cor. 5:16) instead of following the Jesus Christ whom Paul preached in His heavenly ministry of “Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery;” (Rom. 16:25). Satan would cause us to follow “another spirit,” the “spirit of bondage,” law (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 5:1-5), ignoring the spirit that Paul preached (Rom. 6:14-15). The Devil would cause us to follow “another gospel,” such as “the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Mat. 9:35; cf. Mat. 4:17, 10:5-7) to ignore “the Gospel of Grace” that Paul preached (Acts 20:24; Rom. 2:16; Gal. 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:1-4). The “Body of Christ” today is in shambles doctrinally, in such confusion, because it has allowed Satan and his policy of evil religious tradition to corrupt the church. Most Christians today are not “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2Tim. 2:15); they are mixing up the details of the dispensations of “the Law” and “Grace,” thus making proper Bible study impossible.

- As Adapted from Shawn Brasseaux -