Body or Bride of Christ.....

[bliss]

In my new circle of ''not in the Way friends'', I have come across an array of doctrinal speak that I am trying to figure out.

In Way dayz we learned that we were the body of Christ, which I agree. The "Bride'' of Christ is Isreal.

So, we weren't that.

But, as I study more of the bible without my "Way colored glasses on '', I hear that the Church was ''grafted'' in, not to replace Isreal, but to just be the new Isreal......Jew and Gentile.

or like someone today said "I am the bride, I should act accordingly. (he's male).

So, does that mean we are the body and bride?

Here is what Dake's Annotated Reference Bible has to say....

The Bride of Christ

Rev. 21:9-10 should settle once and forever what the bride of Christ is.

What Bride of Christ is Not:

1. It is not Israel of Old Testament times.

2. It is not a part of the New Testament church.

3. It is not the whole New Testament church.

4. It is not the 144,000 Jews.

5. It is not the tribulation saints.

6. It is not any single individual or any one special group of individuals out of the redeemed.

7. It is not any one denomination or all the denominations combined.

What the Bride of Christ is:

It is "that great city, the holy Jerusalem" (Rev. 21:2,9-10). This is what the angel pointed out to John when he promised to show him the bride, the Lamb's wife-the Holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem. What a simple revelation!

It is unscriptural to speak of any one company of redeemed as being the exclusive bride of Christ. If the city, the New Jerusalem, is the bride, then all who go to live in the Holy City make up the bride and not just a part of them.

All Redeemed Will Live in the City:

1. The Old Testament saints were promised the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 11:10-16).

2. The early church was promised the city (John 14:1-3; Hebrews 13:14).

3. Every Christian is promised the city (Rev. 3:12; John 14:1-3; Hebrews 12:23).

4. The 144,000 Jews will be there (Rev. 7:1-8; Rev. 14:1-5).

5. The tribulation saints will go there (Rev. 6:9-11; Rev. 7:9-17; Rev. 15:2-4; Rev. 20:4-6).

Therefore, we conclude that since all saints in the first resurrection (from Abel to the last one saved in the future tribulation) will go to live in the New Jerusalem that all such saints will be members of the bride. No one person, group of persons, denomination, mansion, temple or any other building can be called the city, the Lamb's wife. It takes all to be the city-the bride.

It would be scriptural, however to say concerning the redeemed, that they are now married to Christ under the terms of the New Covenant, that they are citizens of heaven, that they have a hope of going to live in the New Jerusalem, and that because of this they expect to be a part of the bride of Christ or a part of the heavenly city. But no one is actually a part of the bride until he begins to live in the city, which is the bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21:9-10).

Students for centuries have called the church the bride of Christ but this is unscriptural. The church will become a part of the bride when its members begin to live in the New Jerusalem but it will not be the exclusive bride of Christ. All the redeemed of all other ages will also be a part of the bride (Rev. 21:9-10).

The word bride is used only 5 times in connection with believers (John 3:29; Rev. 21:2,9; Rev. 22:17). The word bridegroom is used 10 times in connection with believers (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; John 3:29). All these passages refer to believers who will live in the New Jerusalem, which is the bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21:2,9-10).

What say you?

[TheInvisibleDan]

Paul devotes the entire chapter of Ephesians 5 (vv.21-33) to describing the "Church" as the loving relationship between a man and a woman - or as a husband and wife - which like these, leave their mother and father and become "one"; or how about "I myself bethrothed you unto one husband, a chaste virgin, to Christ..." (2 Cor. 11:2) - or any other number of references to the effect:

"Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and render them members of a prostitute?...Or know ye not that he who joins himself to the harlot becomes one body?

For it has been said, "The two shall become one flesh; But (I say): he who joins himself to the Lord is one Spirit!" (Rom.6:15-16).

Both the Body and the Bride are intended, I think.

In fact, I don't think "the Body" can make any complete sense outside "the Bride".

Without the "Spirit" of "the Bride" "the Body" is dead, and without sense.

Danny

Edited August 24, 2006 by TheInvisibleDan

[T-Bone]

Another interesting topic, Bliss. My thoughts go along the lines of what InvisibleDan shared. In Ephesians 5:25 it says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…” In verse 28 “So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies…” As Invisible Dan pointed out – that whole section describes the loving relationship of Christ with the church as a husband and wife. Yet I also see a subtle reference to the body of Christ. I think the two mind pictures [bride, body] are more for teaching us about our union with Christ – and maybe not so much about how to classify certain groups of people or dispensational stuff.