Copyright © 2022 Michael A. Brown
When we read
carefully through the New Testament epistles, one of the things that may strike
us quite markedly is the lack of explicit teaching on the theme of covenant,
particularly in relation to Gentile believers.
Although the epistle to the Hebrews does develop this theme, it was
addressed to early Jewish Christians and it deals with covenant mainly from an
apologetic point of view, in order to make clear the inadequacy and failure of
the old Mosaic covenant, and to emphasise the supremacy and finality of Christ
as high-priest and mediator of the new covenant. Apart from this, the rest of the New
Testament epistles do not develop this theme at all.[1]
The apostle
Paul was Jewish, he was thoroughly trained in the Scriptures, and so he was
steeped in the knowledge of the covenants of God with Israel. Covenantal thinking was foundational and
central to his life. However, the
paramount need to develop task theology in his epistles as he addressed
developing issues in the many different fledgling churches of his day, would
perhaps explain why he did not give time and space to explicit teaching on the
theme of covenant.[2] Nevertheless, with his hebraic mindset, this
theme would never have been far from his mind!
Modern
students have traditionally been taught to approach the interpretation of Paul’s
epistles through the lens of historical theological systems which invariably
failed to recognise Paul’s hebraic mindset.
These theological systems were developed by Gentile Christian
theologians who were strongly influenced in their own day by inherited Greek
philosophical worldviews, perhaps unconsciously so, and also by replacement
theology whose rejection of all things Jewish caused them to have a blind spot
regarding Paul’s hebraic mindset.
However, it
is my belief that, even though Paul wrote his epistles in Greek, yet much of
his teaching is pervaded by hebraic thought. He certainly does occasionally employ
hebraisms in his writing which many Gentile Christian readers today may not
readily discern in their modern translations, and therefore they remain unaware
of them. This suggests that we would do
well to study Paul’s epistles from a hebraic perspective, and, furthermore,
that doing so will yield treasures of insight which traditional western
theological systems fail to uncover. In
particular, it would demonstrate how the theme of covenant implicitly pervades
some of Paul’s teaching.
Working from
such a hebraic perspective, this chapter suggests how the theme of covenant
undergirds the epistle to the Ephesians, even though it is not explicitly
mentioned anywhere in this epistle. As
we all know, the motif of the bride of Christ is certainly employed by Paul in
Ephesians 5:25-33, but traditional theological understandings have invariably failed
to see how he develops the theme of covenant through this epistle as a
whole. The sections below suggest how
this theme is indeed implicit in much of what he teaches.
1.
Chosen: selected from among the
many
‘For he chose us in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight.’ (Eph. 1:4)
As a young
man grows into adulthood, his heart inevitably begins to seek a soulmate for
life. So he casts his eye around among
all the available young women, and as he gets to know some of them socially
over time, he falls in love with one in particular. The young man then seeks to form a deeper
relationship with this young woman in the hope that she will eventually become
his bride. Out of all the females he
knows, he chooses this special one.
Slowly, slowly, she receives his love and responds to it. Her heart opens and she begins to love him
too. In some cultures, this process
differs in that the bride is chosen for the young man by his parents,
reflecting the biblical order of God the Father choosing a bride for his Son
(cf. Gen. ch.24).
Although
those who hold to reformed theology like to make much of the words ‘chosen,’ ‘elect’
and ‘predestined’ (see also below), this has often led into a decretive, rigid
and clinical concept of God’s nature, certainly on the part of Calvinists. This has caused many believers to question
and even doubt the truly loving nature of God’s character, consequently leading
to confusion and even divisiveness in the body of Christ. Perhaps therefore it might be more helpful to
view Paul’s use of these terms through the hebraic lens of covenant, and
specifically in the light of the concept of marriage.
The Greek
verb eklegomai which is used in v.4 does not simply mean ‘to choose.’ It literally means ‘to select,’ ‘to make a
choice,’ and therefore ‘to choose out from among,’ implying a specific choice
from among many. This is clearly
apposite to the concept of God choosing a bride for his Son. We are not simply ‘the elect or chosen ones
of God.’ In his love, God selected
and chose us as a bride for his Son, Jesus Christ. He loved us, and then by grace set into
motion the process whereby he could redeem us and then form us into this bride.
For our part,
as we hear the gospel message, we respond to God’s love shown and demonstrated
towards us in Christ. We receive him and
we embrace his love, and we enter into a loving relationship with him. Our heart then becomes increasingly his as we
grow in this mutual love.
‘The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you…' (Deut. 7:7-8)
‘We love him because he first loved us.’ (1 John 4:19 AV)
2.
Predestined: planning for the
future
‘…predestined according to the plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…’ (Eph. 1:11)
Having chosen
his special one, and particularly when their relationship begins to blossom,
the young man then naturally begins to think, hope and plan for their future
together. His intention is to one day
marry this special girl. He wants her to
be his, and so he begins to think and plan accordingly. In his heart, in fact in both of their
hearts, he/they see it as their destiny to be together, and so they begin to
map out their future in order to realise this destiny. In many cultures, the parents are often also
involved in this planning.
Although the
concept of predestination is used in vv.4-5 of God’s loving intention to adopt
us as his sons through Christ, yet this also applies to us as the bride of
Christ. A priori, those who are
true sons of God are also the bride of Christ.
These are simply two different motifs applied to the same people.
The verb proorizein
used in vv.5,11 means ‘to predetermine,’ or, more literally, ‘to mark out the
boundaries of something beforehand,’ and therefore ‘to appoint’ or ‘to specify.’ So the underlying concepts are those of
expressing intent and of drawing up specific plans about something. It is to map out a planned intention for the
future. Just as with the verb eklegomai
above, this verb proorizein sits well with the covenantal concept of
marriage. God plans and maps out
his desired intention for the bride he has chosen for his Son, and he then
follows this up by redeeming her and bringing her into covenant relationship
with Christ.
I do not
believe that more needs to be made of this word ‘predestine.’ It simply expresses the fact that God plans
his intention beforehand, and then works to bring about the fulfilment of this
intention. This word is also used in
Romans 8:29 ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the likeness of his Son.’ Again, its
usage here simply expresses the fact that, in his love, God plans and maps out
beforehand a glorious eternal destiny for those he has chosen and who receive
his Son.
3.
Redeemed: the bride-price has been
paid
‘In him we have redemption through his blood.’ (Eph. 1:7)
In many
ancient cultures, and still even today in some present-day cultures, it was the
tradition for the bridegroom-to-be to pay a sum of money to the bride’s
father. This was called the
bride-price. So he effectively buys his
bride from her family. Because his heart
is fixed on her, he is willing to wait even a long time in order to save up enough
money to get her and make her his own.
Upon payment of this bride-price, an agreement is made between the two
families regarding the relationship between the two young people. She then belongs to the bridegroom, and she
will become a new member of his family.
Jesus paid
the bride-price to set us free from our sin and to make us his bride. He was willing to do whatever was needed, to
pay the full price that was necessary in order that we might become his. So in his love, he gave himself up for us (Eph.
5:25). He redeemed us by his blood, and
we now belong to him. We are his
possession, and we become a member of his heavenly family. He did not redeem us with silver or gold, but
with himself. He shed his own blood and
gave his own life, that we might become his.
When we receive what he did for us, then we enter into a new covenant
relationship with him.
‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ…’ (1 Peter 1:18-19)
‘…until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.’ (Eph. 1:14)
‘You are not your own; you were bought at a price.’ (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
4.
Sealed: engaged to Christ
‘Having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the
redemption of those who are God’s possession…’ (Eph. 1:13-14)
The
engagement of two young adults, male and female, is always a significant
event. Although in the West it is often
seen simply as affirmation of their desire to get married, in many other
cultures it carries far more significance.
More than simply the joining of two young adults, it is seen as the
joining of their two families and even as the creation of a new and much
broader social network between their two extended families. This is why the breaking off of an engagement
at any stage can bring so much stress and shame to a family, because it affects
so many other people.
Seen in this
way, engagement is the significant step in the development of a relationship,
even more so in some ways than the marriage ceremony itself. This step is taken with the knowledge and
agreement of both sets of parents, and it is sealed through the giving of a
ring to the bride which she then wears openly.
This ring is an ever-present reminder of the love and covenant
commitment the couple have made with each other. She is his, and he is hers. Engagement is viewed by everyone
concerned as full intention to marry.
The young man and the young woman are then marked out socially as
belonging to each other, and the whole of their respective extended families
recognise and affirm this openly. So the
marriage later on is now guaranteed.
Although the young couple have not yet been through their wedding
ceremony and given their vows to one another, nor received their actual wedding
certificate, yet the social joining of the couple has been accomplished and it
is already considered a done deal. The
later wedding ceremony simply puts the icing on the cake, as it were, and then
the couple may live together.
Seen in this
light, engagement in western cultures has lost much of its significance. It is too often approached more in a ‘let me
try you on and see if you fit’ kind of way, or simply as a trial marriage which
can then be broken off if either partner no longer wants it. So it has lost the kind of deeper meaning and
significance described above which it still holds in many non-western cultures.
Having
received Christ and become believers, we have entered into a covenant
relationship with him. This living
relationship is empowered by the Holy Spirit who indwells us. Two words are used in Ephesians 1:13-14 to
describe the Holy Spirit: ‘seal’ and ‘deposit.’
Firstly, the
Greek verb shpragizein meant to stamp with a signet or private mark as a
seal of ownership. So we have been sealed in Christ, or ‘marked in him with a
seal.’ In a similar way, sheep farmers
today mark their sheep with coloured dye to distinguish them from those of
neighbouring farmers which have a different colour. Hence, the Holy Spirit’s presence within us
marks us out as belonging to Christ. We
are his possession.
Secondly, the
Greek word arrhabon is often rendered as ‘a deposit,’ i.e. a down
payment which guarantees completion of the payment at a later date. It was part of the purchase money or property
given in advance as security for the rest.
So the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is God’s way of
confirming to us that ‘the rest of your inheritance is now guaranteed to come
your way at a later stage.’ It is proof
in the present of what is to come later in the future. Therefore, our inheritance in Christ is
securely guaranteed!
However, a
related form of this word was used in everyday life to mean ‘an engagement
ring.’ So the Holy Spirit is also our
engagement ring, given to us as a promise and guarantee of the wedding to
come. Therefore, we are now
engaged to Christ, and we belong to him. We are his bride-to-be.
5.
Made known: the bride is revealed
‘His intent was that now, through the church, the
manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in
the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in
Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Eph.
3:10-11)
After the
bride-price has been paid and the agreement has been made between the two
families, the next step is to announce and make known the good news to everyone
that the couple are engaged. That the
young man now has a fiancée, that she has a fiancé, and that they are now
joined together. There is a new
bride-to-be in town! So people get to
know: the family members, the relatives, and the wider social circle. Everyone talks, and soon the whole town has
heard the good news.
When the new
church community came into being, a new entity which had never existed in this
world before, the bride of Christ, came into being. The Father’s purpose of creating a
bride for his Son became known openly.
So the bride of Christ was revealed and declared to the world, and in
particular to the spiritual rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
The bride
gradually learns to walk in the self-confidence of her new identity in Christ
and to live openly as his bride. When
the devil tries to attack or discourage her, she can lift up her voice boldly
and tell him where to go. She is not
afraid to let him know that she knows exactly who she is in God’s sight! Although in the present time the bride of
Christ is very imperfect, yet she carries the name and presence of her
Beloved. She is identified everywhere
and by everyone in this world as belonging to him. We live in this world in the present
age in our distinct identity as the bride of Christ.
6. Living differently: openly
honouring our relationship with our Beloved
‘So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.’ (Eph. 4:17)
Being engaged
(and married, of course) brings a young woman into a new social status. It marks her transition from one kind of
living into another, so it re-defines her social relationships, be it in
relation to her fiancé, his family, or her wider social network. It defines who she is, and whose she is,
so she is now expected to behave as someone who is engaged (or married),
especially in public. The ring
she wears shows that the bride-to-be belongs exclusively to her fiancé and not
to anyone else. So she should honour her
new relationship with her beloved and his family, and therefore behave towards
other people in a way which is considered appropriate. Her new commitment is to her beloved, and
this commitment now defines her life.
She is expected to be pure and faithful, so playing around and flirting
with other people is highly inappropriate and wrong. To dishonour her fiancé and his family, or to
betray him by going with someone else, is to bring shame on herself, on him and
on them. In many cultures, this is met
with a stern response, separation or even worse.
The apostle
Paul insists that as believers we should honour our relationship with Christ
openly in the way we live and in how we relate to others. In Christ, we have a new social
identity, and we are bearers of his name. We are engaged to him as his
bride-to-be. So the Lord expects and insists
that we walk according to this new identity, and therefore live before others
as Christians ought to live. Our faith
should be reflected in the way we live.
We should not bring shame on the name of Christ by the way we live or
behave. Our identity as the bride
of Christ determines the way we live not just in relation to Christ, but also
in relation to the world. In
this world, we ought to live exclusively for Christ. This is Paul’s underlying thinking in many of
the practical exhortations in his epistles, particularly in regard to sexual
morality. We need to repent thoroughly
from old patterns of sinful behaviour and move on from some of our old
associations.
It is clear
from Paul’s two epistles to the Corinthians that the believers in Corinth were
experiencing the operation of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit in their
meetings, and Paul related this to the functioning of the body of Christ. However, the fact that there was so much
ongoing disorder amongst them shows that they still had little or no
understanding of what it meant to live practically as the bride of Christ. Paul rebuked them strongly over this! (1 Cor.
chs.12,14; 2 Cor. 11:2-3, 12:20-21).
‘I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I
might present you as a pure virgin to him.’ (2 Cor. 11:2)
7. The bride of Christ: deep inward
spiritual union with our Beloved
‘“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.’ (Eph. 5:31-32)
The aim and
culmination of engagement is the covenant of marriage. In this covenant, affirmed openly and
publicly by the mutual giving of vows, the young man and woman give themselves
completely to each other, as fully as two people can do. The mutual giving of vows implies God’s
intention in the inseparability of this union.
This inseparable giving over of oneself to the other means that marriage
is not a contract which can be torn up, and neither should it be conceived of
in terms of ‘easy come easy go’ cohabitation.
No, it is a covenant, and this is the only way in which marriage can be
fully understood and experienced as God intended. The image of God in humankind is found most
fully in the binding together of male and female in the covenant of marriage,
and only in this way.
The union
between male and female, becoming ‘one flesh,’ does not simply imply intimate
physical union, it is also a union of two spirits, two hearts and two
minds. Through their mutual love, the
two partners are bound together in spiritual union at the deepest level within
themselves, and in every other way too. It
is the deepest of all human soul bonds.
The Hebrew word dabaq used of being ‘united’ literally means ‘to
be glued together.’ So the two partners
become one. Although they outwardly
remain two people, yet they have become one through their deep inward
union. Over time, of course, this leads
to the two partners knowing each other and being known by each other in every
possible way. Furthermore, this binding
together of male and female in union as ‘one flesh’ is the beginning of the
creation of a new social unit, a family.
The passion and intimacy of this union produces fruit as children are
conceived and born.
In Ephesians
5:25-32, we find the heart of what it means to be the bride of Christ. The model of the husband-wife covenant
relationship in creation is given to us to illustrate God’s intention in the
relationship between Christ and the church.
In the same way that there is a deep inward spiritual bond between
husband and wife, as believers we are bound intimately together with our
Beloved deep within our spirit through his Spirit who dwells within us. We are united with Christ, and we have become
one with him: we are in Christ, and Christ is in us. And again, just as with husband and wife,
this gives us our essential and primary identity as a Christian: we are
the bride of Christ.
God
expects us to live in the light of this identity. He is our Head, just as the husband is the
head of the wife. In his deep love for
us, he gives himself utterly for us: he cares for us, provides for us, and
nourishes us faithfully. In response,
through our growing love for him, we freely submit to and follow him. Our heart’s desire is for him. As the traditional marriage vow says: we
love, honour and obey him. We are his
and we belong to him, so we wash ourself daily with the water of his word,
keeping ourself pure and holy, separated unto him. As with any loving bride, we want Christ our
divine husband to be pleased with us, so we endeavour to remain without stain
or blemish. We seek to do what pleases
him, because we want him to be happy with us (Eph. 5:10). And we also try to keep ourself looking
radiant for him, or, as the underlying Greek says, looking gorgeous for him,
with the radiance of the Holy Spirit’s presence shining through us.
‘For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has
made herself ready.’ (Rev.
19:7)
‘I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with
you… and you became mine.’ (Ezek.
16:8 ESV)
‘But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.’ (1 Cor. 6:17)
‘My beloved is mine
and I am his.’ (Song 2:16)
8.
Undying love: living happily ever
after
‘Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an
undying love.’ (Eph.
6:24)
‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ (Heb. 13:5)
A couple
whose hearts are bound in union together, and who therefore truly love each
other, are a happy couple. They seek
daily to be with one another, because they love and enjoy each other. Although their love may not be perfect, yet
it grows by walking together through all the varying situations and challenges
of life. As the years go by, and as they
experience more of their love for one another, their mutual love deepens and
matures, and they become secure in it.
Similarly,
God’s intention in Christ is for us to become increasingly bound with him deep
within ourself, and therefore to experience and to live consistently in the
intimacy of his deep love for us. It
is for us to enjoy living daily in our love relationship with him throughout
our life, and to be free and happy as believers. A Christian life, which is lived in the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit, is never boring. It can and should be enjoyed, because it is a
relationship with Christ which is rooted in genuine mutual daily love. So we should seek to spend time with him, we
should walk with him, and we should linger with him.
We grow
deeper in God’s love as we see it displayed in the way he provides for us and
sees us through the challenges of life.
We have the assurance that if God gave up his own Son for us, then he
will certainly give us all that we need in life (Rom. 8:32). The repeated use of the word ‘never’ in
Hebrews 13:5 suggests that the words of this verse are more akin to a vow than
simply being a promise. God will
always meet our needs, because he will remain unchangeably faithful to the word
he has given; he cannot deny himself. So
we should resolve to go through life’s challenges by walking together with the
Lord, holding his hand throughout, and learning any lessons that he might want
to teach us. We can endure to go
through challenges with God, because we know that he loves us. And just as with any married couple, when we
have come through such challenges in life, we will find that we have grown
closer to Christ, and our relationship with him will have become deeper.
God’s first
and foremost desire for us is that we walk in the enjoyment of his love, not
simply that we work for him. Everything
we do ought to come out of our love for him.
We obey him, because we love him.
We seek to do what pleases him, because we love him. To be blossoming, growing and maturing in our
relationship with God is to be growing in love, both for him and for one
another.
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength.’ (Deut.
6:5)
‘And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.’ (Eph. 3:17-19)
‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ (John 14:23)
‘God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us…’ (1 John 4:16-17)
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