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BRIDE
BODY
68
AND
references to the Body in Ephesians 5 should be read in the light of the teaching assembled in the article entitled
THE BRIDE AND THE BODY (see below). Sufficient has been brought forward to demonstrate the unique character of
this high calling, which makes it impossible when once seen to confuse this Church of the Body with the references
already considered in 1 Corinthians 10 to 12.
BOTH. This word and the synonymous `twain' of Ephesians 2:14-18 fall within the teaching arising out of the
reference to `The Middle Wall' and the article under that heading should be consulted, as also the structure of
EPHESIANS (p. 275), together with the articles on RECONCILIATION4, NEW MAN3 and ORDINANCES7. It would
necessitate going over the ground already covered by these articles to deal with the term `both' of Ephesians 2:14
here.
THE BRIDE AND THE BODY
Dr. R. A. Hadden wrote:
`It is assumed almost universally that the Church of the present dispensation is at once the "Body of Christ" and
"the Bride" ... Traditional theology, unscriptural hymnology, amazing disregard for correct interpretation,
intolerant zeal for dogmatic human opinions together with careless defective instruction, have united for
generations in perpetuating a phase of teaching possessing no foundation in or authority from Holy Scripture and
perpetrating a system that plunges multitudes of believers in dire confusion concerning the plan, purpose and
programme of God for "the Church which is His Body" as distinct from the Divine purpose concerning another
outcalling known as "the Bride, the Lamb's wife"`.
Sir Robert Anderson wrote:
`Is the Church the Bride of Christ? Let us begin by correcting our terminology. In the Patmos visions we read of
"The Bride, the Lamb's wife", but "the Bride of Christ" is unknown to Scripture ... With the close of the
Baptist's ministry, both the Bride and the Lamb disappear from the New Testament until we reach the Patmos
visions. In Revelation 21, the angel summoning the Seer to behold "the Bride" the Lamb's wife, and he showed
him "the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God". The twelve gates of the city bear the names of
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and on the twelve foundations are "the names of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb" ... it is the city for which Abraham looked ... These apostles of the Bride are not the apostles who
were given after the Ascension for the building up of the Body of Christ - the apostles of this Christian
dispensation, chief among whom was Paul. They are the twelve apostles of the Lord's earthly ministry to Israel,
who shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (Matt. 19:28).
These two quotations contain enough to make the present investigation both serious and imperative. We have
already seen, in the article entitled BODY (p. 119), sufficient evidence for believing that the Church thus
denominated in Ephesians 1:22,23, is unique, is entirely disassociated from the hope and calling of Israel, and was
indeed hidden in the mind of God, unrevealed even in His Word, until the present dispensation of the Mystery
followed the dismissal of Israel in Acts 28.
If we call upon the Old Testament to bear a witness to the Church which is His BODY the answer is silence.
Such a company and such a relationship is unknown. If, however, we call upon the Old Testament to bear a witness
to a company of redeemed, that are likened to either wife or bride, the answer is affirmative and very full. When
Jeremiah prophesied of the institution of the New Covenant, he said, `not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: which My covenant they
brake, although I was an husband unto them'. This supposes that under the terms of the old covenant, Israel were
related to the Lord as a wife to an husband. This is recognized by Ezekiel who wrote, namely in Ezekiel 16:7-14.
The figure employed, `I spread my skirt over thee' when compared with Ruth 3:9 reveals the marriage relationship,
which is explained by Ezekiel as entering into a `covenant' and `prospering as a kingdom'.
The charge laid against Israel, however, is that they proved unfaithful to their marriage vow, Ezekiel likened
them to `a wife that committeth adultery' (Ezek. 16:32) and says that Israel will be judged `as a woman that breaketh