Thesis 28 We must be the bride of Christ.
When God the Holy Spirit gives us a metaphor, we do Him a disservice in reducing it down to a mere metaphor. When He describes the church as the bride of Christ, we are denuding His words if we conclude merely that this means, “Jesus loves the church in a way much like how a groom loves his bride.” The church as the bride of Christ certainly includes that notion, but its meaning is far richer, far more full. One thing we too often miss is that because the church is the bride of Christ, and Christ is the second Adam, the church is the second Eve. We, like our mother Eve before us, exist to be a helper suitable to our husband. Adam was called to exercise dominion, and Eve to be a help in that calling. Jesus is now exercising dominion, bringing all things under subjection, and the church is to be a help in that calling.
Brides, however, are far more than just helpers. They have a peculiar calling. Brides, for instance, are called to beauty. When a bride processes into the sanctuary, does anyone complain about the inefficiency of it all? Do we think, “You know, she’d make it down the aisle a whole lot more quickly if she weren’t dragging that train behind her?” Do we complain because she walks so slowly?
In like manner, the church is to be about the business of exercising dominion. This, however, is not merely an exercise of power. It is also an exercise in beauty. We move the kingdom forward when we are about the business of removing every spot and wrinkle from us, as we seek, through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, to wash away all that is displeasing to our Husband. When we attend to our beauty we have not fallen into world-denying piety. We have instead entered into the great battle, wielding the weapon of beauty.
The bride does not merely work beside her Husband, but is likewise defined by her love for Her husband. That is, that Christ loves the church is true enough, but we are called in turn to love Him. We are to delight in Him, rejoice in Him, draw near to Him. Jesus is not an interest we have in our life while we pursue our life. He is instead our very reason for being. Progress in life is measured by growing in our capacity to love Him.
The bride’s calling is to be a help suitable to her husband not only in terms of ruling over all things, but also in the call to be fruitful and multiply. Here too it is the same with Christ and His bride. Our calling is to bring forth godly seed, both through the work of evangelism and through the work of nurturing our children in the Lord. When we are barren, when we are content that we are in the kingdom, and have no passion to bring more in, we are an unfaithful bride.
That, in the end, is the defining mark of all these things- our call is to be faithful, not just to the faith, but to our Husband. We faithfully seek to please Him. We faithfully grow in love toward Him. We faithfully bear fruit. And we faithfully give our affections to no other. We reject the seduction of the world. We rejoice in the love of our Husband. And we long for the day when we will dance with Him, with neither blot nor blemish.