by R.C. Sproul
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians contains one of the most neglected texts found in the New Testament (5:31-32): “‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” In this passage Paul refers back to the original institution of marriage in creation. He cites Genesis 2:24 including the reference to the result of marriage by which the two become “one flesh.”
In what sense does marriage effect a union of one flesh? This question catapults us squarely into the face of mystery. Surely the marriage union does not annihilate the personal identities of the individuals who are united. Before the wedding there are two distinct persons with two distinct personalities. After the wedding there are still two distinct persons with two distinct personalities. Yet now the two have become “one flesh.”
It is facile to assume that the phrase “the two shall become one flesh” refers exclusively to a spiritual union that is to occur in the bond of marriage. Certainly marriage is designed to effect a spiritual union. There is to be a oneness of mind and spirit. But the Bible speaks of one “flesh.” The union is wholistic. Two persons come together to take effect a physical as well as spiritual union.
The physical union of marriage may involve something more than a sexual union but by no means less. The sexual union is a vital part of the marriage relationship. Sexual union is not merely for recreation or for procreation. It includes the mystery of the two becoming one flesh. So crucial to the sexual union is the becoming of one flesh that Paul appeals to this mystery as grounds for avoiding illicit sexual relationships. He forbids fornication, indeed calls us to “flee” from it in the context of saying: “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,” He says, ‘shall become one flesh’” (1 Cor. 6:16).
The context of this discussion in Corinthians includes a link between our union with Christ and our union with our mates. Paul says, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!” (1 Cor. 6:15).
Here Paul links our union with Christ and His body with the mystery of sexual and marital union. We recall that in Ephesians Paul said, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
At the heart of Christianity is the doctrine of the mystical union of the believer with Christ. Faith links us directly into Christ. We become in Him and He in us. This mysterious union is carried over into the relationship between Christ and the church. The church is His bride with whom He has effected a real, profound, and powerful union.
We normally assume that the image of the church as the bride of Christ is a metaphor borrowed from the institution of human marriage. In this case the earthly serves as the model for the heavenly. Perhaps that is the intent of Scripture. I am not sure. It may well be the other way around. It may be that the earthly estate of marriage is based upon the heavenly model of the mystical union of Christ and His bride. Marriage is the reflection of the heavenly reality, not the basis for a heavenly image.
Excerpt taken from Tabletalk magazine, July 1994.
|
|
|
