“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:31-32
Yesterday I left off on Paul talking about how our marriage is to reflect the relationship between Christ and the body of the church. I was making the assertion that Paul might be saying that ‘our marriage’, in itself, is a member of the church body. Well, these next 2 verses continue to reinforce that.
Through verse 31 (Genesis 2:24), God breaks the act of marriage into three parts. First, it shows a man forming a new family unit by leaving his parents, which in ancient times was more about care and oversight than physical location. Next, it describes the man joining his wife, symbolizing the new family unit. Finally, it talks about becoming one flesh, highlighting the unique union that sex creates when a man and woman come together. BUT, God is saying that it is more than this and follows up verse 31 with what that it is. It is a mystery how this oneness can be true. It’s almost like Paul is wrestling with how to describe something indescribable.
The mystery is this aspect of oneness about marriage, but it is connected to the greater mystery of Christ’s relationship and the church. Christ is the God Son of the trinity, yet He is God. When I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, I became one with Him and He with me. When God the Father looks at me, He sees the spotlessness of His Son. When I look at what happens when a group of believers comes together in the name of the Son, we see the hand of God move in powerful ways. What Paul is saying is that marriage is like this great mystery of the church’s relationship with Christ.
The Mystery is that there are aspects of Christ’s relationship with the church, and the connectedness we have with our wives that are unseen and our feeble human brains can’t see the who picture of how profound this mystery is. This is why sex within marriage is the only acceptable place for sexual intimacy to happen. The act of a sexual union bonds us to our spouse in ways that are not entirely understood by us. It is why God designed it this way.
Application:
I need to keep pursuing how God would use my marriage and oneness with Marianne for the work of His Kingdom through ministry and service to Him. One of the ways we are doing that now is by pursuing all the knowledge we can to counsel others toward the answers in God’s word. We have completed both the Foundations and Observation classes and are in the middle of working through the Theology of Biblical Counseling. I know that God has so much more for us.
Today’s Psalm:
All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way
Psalms 44:17-18