Marriage 1.0 (#4) – Christ and the Church

Primary Text: Ephesians 5:22-30

The vision of marriage as laid out by God (Marriage 1.0) has been lost on most all those practicing it and preaching it, and has been corrupted by those who wish to enforce Marriage 2.0. As was specified last time, there are those who are corrupting it for their own ends to foster their own feminist aims. The greatest affront to the example God has laid out is the corruption of the symbolism that has been given to us that Marriage 1.0 is like Christ and the Church.

I’ve always enjoyed seeing these symbols within Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. Through the ages, men have been given physical symbols which represent heavenly spiritual realities. For example, the symbolism of the sacrifice of the perfect lamb for sins teaches the substitution of the Lamb of God in sacrifice for the sins of all. The perfect picture of Christ’s sacrifice was given in this Old Testament practice, when it was performed properly. But we should take care not to impute any lasting eternal significance in these things. As the Old Testament sacrifice went away because the real thing came along, so marriage will go away when the real thing comes along in that case, too. As in several instances with marriage, we are told the real thing is Christ and the full consummation of His Church in the eternal paradise.

As with any of the symbols we are given, when faithfully performed, they preach the message of the real thing. So in the case of marriage it becomes a requirement to fulfill the symbolism in order to have a Godly Christian marriage, which preaches the full meaning behind the symbolism. Paul appeals to this symbolism in his writing to the Ephesians.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

The analogy has broken down on both sides in this regard. Churchianity hasn’t submitted to Christ in a very long time on this earth. Rather it has submitted to its own will and desires – hence Churchianity and not Christianity. But it will submit in due time to Jesus by the will of the Father, in one way or the other:

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19-23)

We are told that we are not the ones that put Christ over the head of all things and over the Church as well. The Father has. We only have the choice of how we come under His control. We can either go willingly and be covered in His blood as His disciple, or we can go unwillingly into the pits of eternal punishment. For in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess in the end that Jesus Christ is Lord (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10). Unfortunately, Churchianity today has taken the words of God that have been given us as mere suggestions, or even as tools to appear spiritual as they drive their own personal worldly and fleshly agendas forth (Romans 16:17-18) and not as words to be heeded in fear and respect.

To follow out the analogy to its conclusion, Christ has been given dominion over all things in the earth, on the earth, and over the earth, including His Church, without conditions by the Father (Ephesians 1:3). In the same way, the Father has given dominion of each wife over to her husband and commanded that she submit to their husband’s words as if they were coming from the Lord Jesus Himself, with the only consideration being if they would come from the Lord Jesus Himself (Ephesians 5:22). To do anything different in a Christian marriage as a wife is to engage in the sin of rebellion against the Lord, placing herself outside of His authority, because the Lord vested rightful authority in her husband over her. To continue on:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That 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. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:25-30)

Here, we are given the other part of the analogy. A husband is to treat his wife as Christ treats his church. In this way it is to be a sacrifice born out of his love for her. As Christ is the Head of His church, the Church is His body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Hence as one cares for their own body, the husband should care for his wife in a fit manner.

For those that played “spot the heresy” when it came to Albert Mohler’s redefinition of marriage into Marriage 2.0, you’ll note that I wrote there that he used an incorrect interpretation of this section of Scripture. When it is used by Marriage 2.0 advocates, they usually do not explain that their definition of “loving the wife as Christ loved the Church” is qualified by the wife. In Marriage 2.0, she determines whether he is loving her sufficiently “as Christ loved the Church” and can act accordingly when it comes to her choice to submit, her choice to be respectful and honorable, and her choice to provide sexual access or not. We see this clearly explained in Mohler’s writing. This means the turbulence of her feelings, emotions, moods, and interests of the moment govern the entire marriage. In doing this, she places herself as the head over both her husband, Christ, and the Father, rebelling against God and placing herself outside the grace of Christ. As a result, this is another means the feminists use to support Marriage 2.0 within Churchianity. They teach that husbands submit to their wives and try to justify it through warped Scripture. Let us have Paul remind us of the proper order:

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

In Marriage 1.0, it is God > Christ > Husband > Wife in the rightful Biblical order of things. In Marriage 2.0 it is Wife > Her Personal Jesus > Her Butler Father God > Husband. So who is the legitimate judge of whether a husband is loving his wife as Christ loved the Church? 1 Corinthians 11:3 and 1 Peter 3:7 paint it clearly. The wife is not to be the judge and follow contingent on her feelings and emotions. Christ is the rightful One to judge whether a husband is loving his wife in a Biblical, sensible, wise, and proper way. And the wife is to submit to the husband in all proper things, period, full-stop. If her husband is sinning in the eyes of Christ (and not his wife’s), that does not give her license to do the same.

If Mohler and any of the other “Christian” teachers that have been preaching Marriage 2.0 have any desire for genuine Christian marriage (Marriage 1.0) to continue, they need to repent in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord for what they have done, and turn towards the definition of marriage that God has genuinely laid down.