The Church is Not the Bride of Christ; it is Israel

Photo Credit: Jeremy Wong Weddings via Unsplash

By Stan Szymanski

This writing is sure to upset many in the modern church as it is regularly taught from the pulpit that the Church is the ‘Bride of Christ’. I was going to give a bunch of examples of preachers who preach this but they are so numerous you can pretty much throw a dart at the internet and find one. I will give you one though.

The main verses that people use to support this view is Ephesians 5:22-29:

…’22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—‘…(Ephesians 5:22-29 NIV Bible Gateway)

The use of the marital imagery of this passage is not ‘declarative’ but it is ‘comparative’. It does not come out and say the the church -is- the ‘Bride of Christ’. It is simply using the image of a marriage to get a point across. The word ‘as’ is used as (no pun intended) a means of comparing. It is not a declaration that the church is the betrothed of the Holy One.

If one were to read just one verse further, one would indeed see (IMHO) who the church is:

…’30 for we are members of his body.’…

The statement in verse 30 makes a clear declaration that ‘we are members of his body’. That means that we who trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and abide in Him (the ‘church’) are the Body of Christ (members thereof).

The ‘Body of Christ’ is by nature -masculine- and therefore the church, as it is presented in scripture is always masculine and not feminine. This assertion, of course, flies in the face of most modern teaching in the church today. That is because, IMHO, most who inhabit the pulpit only do, at best, a cursory reading of the scripture regarding this topic and want to go along with the current zeitgeist of the feminization of the church.

So if the church is not ‘The Bride of Christ’-who is it?

Is it ‘New Jerusalem’?;

…’Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.’… (Revelation 21:1-2 NIV Bible Gateway)

Once again we see the use of the word ‘as’ as a means of comparison and not a declaration. If the word ‘as’ did not matter, then the ‘church’ and ‘New Jerusalem’ could potentially stand on equal footing in arguing about who is ‘The Bride of Christ’.

In my opinion, ‘The Bride of Christ’ is none other than Israel. To me, from times long ago, the Word of God makes it clear who -exactly- was promised to be betrothed to God.

…’It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,”declares the Lord.’…(Jer. 31:32 Bible Gateway)

…’“Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.’…(Jer. 3:4 NIV Bible Gateway)

…’For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. (Is. 54:5 NIV (Bible Gateway)

…’I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.’…(Hos. 2:19-20 NIV Bible Gateway)

In the scripture the God of all the earth calls himself the ‘husband’ of Israel! That would make Israel the one promised in marriage. If, as the Lord says in the passage from Hosea, ‘I will betroth you to me forever’ who is today’s church to say that -they- are the ‘Bride of Christ’? To me this seems like 21st Century ‘replacement theology’ which is really no theology at all.

To take this to an extreme, Pastor TD Jakes has preached that the church is both the body of Christ -and- the Bride of Christ(!) This seems very confused and convoluted. I think that the Word of God makes things simple for us to understand: The body of Christ is masculine and the ‘Bride’ is feminine. It is clear to me that church is the ‘body of Christ’ and that Israel is the one betrothed to marriage by the Lord centuries ago.

The scripture passage of Ephesians and Revelation mentioned above are used as comparisons for teaching and illumination purposes, in my humble opinion. The passages above from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hosea clearly define who is betrothed to the Lord and it is Israel.

When you hear or read the multitudes of pastors who call the church ‘the Bride of Christ’ you know that either they did not do enough homework on the subject or they have another agenda, which in some cases, is another gospel altogether. In my case, I prefer to try to be like the Bereans who tested the apostle Paul because I for one, need to verify what I hear from the pulpit today.

…’Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.’…

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Stan Szymanski (or Encouraging Angels) is not a medical doctor. This is not medical advice. In all matters pertaining to the health and care of a human being consult a medical doctor. This is not legal, financial or personal advice. Consult appropriate professionals in those fields for that type of advice