Your site is still daily food for me, thank you so very much.
My question this time regards how to teach the concept of men and women being the “Bride of Christ.”
We know that means the “church.” However, some men have difficulty grasping the non feminine meaning of their being a bride,and also how they can be the “body” of Christ. Any suggestions?
Paul wrote that marriage is a model of the relationship between the Lord and His Church, and on Earth husbands and wives demonstrate that model with the husband in the role of the Lord and the wife in the role of the Church.
But it’s a spiritual model, not a physical one. Husbands love their wives as the Lord loves the Church, and wives submit to their husbands as the Church submits to Christ. (Ephes. 5:22-27) Notice that the wife is not commanded to love her husband, only to submit to him. That’s the way the Church is supposed to relate to the Lord. It’s the husband who is commanded to love his wife and give up everything for her just as the Lord did for the Church.
If you take the physical application of that away and just focus on the spiritual meaning, then both men and women are equally able to fulfill the role of the Bride of Christ.
As for being the body of Christ, think of it this way. When the Lord wants to love, comfort, feed, or clothe someone, or give someone some money, He uses one of us to do it for Him. We are His body, His arms and legs and heart, the means by which He relates to us here on Earth. When we’re in the Kingdom with Him this will probably change since we’ll be in His presence.