Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25-33)
If you believe that the Bible is just a bunch of stuff written by a bunch of men, you can write this passage off as just more misogyny on the part of a idiot named Paul. At best, it’s descriptive of the way people of Jewish heritage saw things two thousand years ago.
But if you believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that what was written therein is what God wants us to know, then what can you make of this passage? What must you say? This isn’t the only place in which marriage is used as a picture of the relationship between God and God’s people. In the Old Testament, God accuses the Jews of adultery fairly regularly. They had left their husband (God) and gone off with not just someone else, but everyone else.
If marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with His Church, His Bride, what is the picture supposed to show us? Most importantly, I think, it shows us that marriage is between two similar but different beings. A Christian is a new creation, a spiritual being having a physical experience, as C. S. Lewis put it. Jesus was a spiritual being who had a physical experience. But Jesus is God, and we are not. The marriage is between similar beings, not same beings.
I believe this is why a Christian must not join, agree with, or accept the current “marriage” movement in which the term “marriage” can be used to describe a relationship status between any one or more entities (from marriage to one’s self, to marriage to multiple partners, to marriage to a bridge, a dog, or someone of the same sex.) The Artist has painted a picture and told us what that picture is, and we aren’t free to dictate to Him what we think that picture should include. As the Creator, He knows how He designed the universe to function best, and as the creatures, who are we to tell Him He’s wrong?
There will be those who disagree. The world hates God and rejects His involvement. I understand that, and God gave people the freedom to do that. I don’t claim to be wiser than God. I think it wise to accept the word of the Artist about what the art is supposed to mean or to do. The world wants to make the word marriage mean anything anyone wants it to, which means that it will mean nothing. It has the right to make that decision for itself, but not for any Christian. If someone wants to “marry” a bridge (as was reported to have happened in Spain) or herself (somehow, it’s a female thing to marry one’s self) or a snake, or whatever, they have the right to consider themselves married. I can’t and won’t stop them. If, however, they think they have the right to demand that I accept their parody of what God says marriage is about, well, they’re going to have to go talk to God about it. As soon as He tells me that I should celebrate those things as being the same as His picture of Christ and the Church, I will have no objection. Until He tells me so, I can make no peace with the idea. It has nothing to do with my preferences, and everything to do with God’s. It does not matter what the law may condone or require. The government and the law are not my gods.
But if you believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that what was written therein is what God wants us to know, then what can you make of this passage? What must you say? This isn’t the only place in which marriage is used as a picture of the relationship between God and God’s people. In the Old Testament, God accuses the Jews of adultery fairly regularly. They had left their husband (God) and gone off with not just someone else, but everyone else.
If marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with His Church, His Bride, what is the picture supposed to show us? Most importantly, I think, it shows us that marriage is between two similar but different beings. A Christian is a new creation, a spiritual being having a physical experience, as C. S. Lewis put it. Jesus was a spiritual being who had a physical experience. But Jesus is God, and we are not. The marriage is between similar beings, not same beings.
I believe this is why a Christian must not join, agree with, or accept the current “marriage” movement in which the term “marriage” can be used to describe a relationship status between any one or more entities (from marriage to one’s self, to marriage to multiple partners, to marriage to a bridge, a dog, or someone of the same sex.) The Artist has painted a picture and told us what that picture is, and we aren’t free to dictate to Him what we think that picture should include. As the Creator, He knows how He designed the universe to function best, and as the creatures, who are we to tell Him He’s wrong?
There will be those who disagree. The world hates God and rejects His involvement. I understand that, and God gave people the freedom to do that. I don’t claim to be wiser than God. I think it wise to accept the word of the Artist about what the art is supposed to mean or to do. The world wants to make the word marriage mean anything anyone wants it to, which means that it will mean nothing. It has the right to make that decision for itself, but not for any Christian. If someone wants to “marry” a bridge (as was reported to have happened in Spain) or herself (somehow, it’s a female thing to marry one’s self) or a snake, or whatever, they have the right to consider themselves married. I can’t and won’t stop them. If, however, they think they have the right to demand that I accept their parody of what God says marriage is about, well, they’re going to have to go talk to God about it. As soon as He tells me that I should celebrate those things as being the same as His picture of Christ and the Church, I will have no objection. Until He tells me so, I can make no peace with the idea. It has nothing to do with my preferences, and everything to do with God’s. It does not matter what the law may condone or require. The government and the law are not my gods.
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