The Church Is Both Body and Bride

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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Q. W. S. It is commonly held that the Body of Christ is also the Bride. Can you prove me this from Scripture, etc.?
A. There is no doubt that the Body of Christ and His Bride are both names used for the Church. At the same time it is to be understood that there is an earthly Bride of the Canticles (Song of Solomon) — the Jewish remnant of the last days. In Ephesians 5, while Paul is exhorting husband and wives, his mind cannot pass on without thinking of Christ and the Church. He quotes the passage (Gen. 2:23,2423And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23‑24)) referring to Adam in Paradise, and Eve taken out of the man — bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh — while he slept, and then the statement, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh,” used in Ephesians 5 to convey the union of Christ — the second Adam — and the Church; the Eve, so to speak, for the Paradise of God. “We are members of his body; we are of his flesh and of his bones.”
There is no allusion in Romans 7 as to union with Christ, or to the Church at all. It refers to the law and a risen Christ, and the impossibility of having rightly to do with both together, as for a woman rightly to have two husbands. The word “married” is not in the original at all (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, 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 7:4)).
In Revelation 21:9-27, 22:1-5, the Church is distinctly named the “Bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Babylon, the whore, said she sat as a queen, and was also described under the figure of a city, or polity; so is the Bride. She is looked at here as a polity or center of administration of the kingdom in heavenly glory. It is not the Father’s house, but the displayed glory, in the light of which the saved nations walk (Rev. 21:2424And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. (Revelation 21:24)).
In Revelation 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17), “The Spirit and the Bride say, come.” The Spirit dwelling in the Church produces bridal affections in her, and she invites Christ while He is absent, as the Morning Star (vs. 16).
There is an earthly Bride, of which the Song of Songs speaks — the elect remnant of the Jews.
Words of Truth 6:158-160.