Untitled Sermon (8)
Jesus, the Bridegroom
Bride of Christ. One of the NT metaphors for the church. In it Christ is pictured as a husband and the church as his bride.
Addressing the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul referred to himself as the one who gave the church to Christ, presenting her “as a pure bride to her one husband” (2 Cor 11:2, 3). In ancient Near Eastern culture the father gave his daughter in marriage to the bridegroom, assuring him of her purity. To Paul, understanding himself as the church’s spiritual father (1 Cor 4:15), the thought of the church as his daughter sprang readily to mind. To be Christ’s pure bride requires on the church’s part “pure and simple devotion.” Like a concerned father, Paul was worried that the young bride (the church) might commit adultery by her willingness to accept “another Jesus,” “another Spirit,” or “a different gospel” (2 Cor 11:4). As between marriage partners, the relation between the church and Christ is governed by a covenant of mutual faithfulness. Disloyalty shatters the covenant.