A question occasionally arises whether the bride and the body of Christ are one and the same. This topic was dealt with in a previous thread started on June 26, 2013 by JBurton. The thread entitled "Am I the bride of Christ? or the body of Christ?" had many responses and that provoked me to review this subject and offer some thoughts. Is the body and the bride the same? Most contributors to the earlier thread think that they are synonyms, meaning one and the same thing, but is this so? Here is JBurton's first post in that thread which brought forth a number of comments:
Am I the bride of Christ? or the body of Christ?
« on: June 26, 2013, 11:05:57 PM »
• Quote
Been scanning trough Martin Zender's stuff.
He says Israel is the bride of the Christ, and we (gentiles, I guess) are part of the body of the Christ.
The circumcision and the uncircumicison.
He says that there are two gospels.
The gospel of the circumcision and the gospel of the uncircumicison.
I have never heard this teaching.
I have always been taught that we are his body and his bride.
That it doesn't matter whether you are Jew or Gentile, circumcised or not (figuratively speaking).
Martin's view seems to make more sense, but...
What do you believe?
« Last Edit: July 05, 2013, 06:52:51 PM by jbertonbounds »
The entire thread is at:
http://tentmaker.org/forum/lounge/am-i-the-bride-of-christ-or-the-body-of-christ/
Christ is referred to as the Lamb of God, and it is the Lamb who marries the bride. There is no mention in scripture of Christ marrying His body. As Laz has said in his post no.2 :
No entity can be both the body and the bride of the Christ. That means marrying your own body, and that is absurd. Also, confusing, and God is not a God of confusion.
So to clarify the matter we should look at the true significance of each of the terms according to their usage in the Word.
Rev.19:7 (KJV) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Christ is to marry His bride. Who is the bride? The bride are those saints of the circumcision. The gentiles (nations) have no part in being the bride.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, especially John, speak of the "bride" but never mention the "body," while, on the other hand, Paul is continually speaking of the "body" but never mentions the "bride."
John the Baptist's message was to encourage the Jewish people to repent, to turn away from trust in earthly power and turn to look toward the millennial kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven which had been promised them as the "people of the saints of the Most High" (Dan.7:27). Those who would repent, believe and turn away from evil would become the bride of Jesus Christ.
"He who has the bride" makes it clear that the "bride" was in view at the very beginning of our Lord's ministry (John 3:29). So we are certain of two things, first, that the Lord Jesus, Himself, is the Bridegroom; and second, the faithful band of baptized Israelites gathered about Him was the beginning and representative of the church, or "out-called" Israelites, "in whom there was no guile," the "bride of the Lamb."
The church which was founded on Pentecost included only those called out from the nation of Israel. That church grew and Acts 4:4 mentions 5000 were part of it. But it must be remembered that this "church" includes only the sons of Israel with probably a few proselytes. It did not include the gentiles (nations).
The "bride" and "body" are not used as synonymous terms in the Scriptures, The "bride" is nowhere promised an allotment or destiny in heaven. The "body" is promised a heavenly destiny, being "blessed with every spiritual blessing among the celestials," in contrast with the terrestrial blessings and glory of the "bride."
There is little scriptural foundation for the assumption that the twelve apostles and other Jewish saints belong to the body of Christ, or had anything to do with establishing the body of Christ. The body of Christ and the bride of Christ are not the same thing.
1 Corinthians 15:40 (YLT) and there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies; but one is the glory of the heavenly, and another that of the earthly;
The body of Christ, was to have a separate sphere of blessing, independent of Israel and the millennium. This was only revealed after judicial blindness was pronounced upon Israel at the close of the Acts period by Paul, whereupon he, in his final epistles, revealed this secret and its associated truths.
The end result of those who are of the body of Christ at the resurrection will NOT inherit the earth, but rather the heavens.
In the resurrection, those who are the bride of Christ inherit the earth when the millennium commences. In the sermon on the mount Christ said the "meek shall inherit the earth (mat. 5:5). The sermon was for the Jews of that day and stated the principles and blessings to come their way if they obeyed and believed the words of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was not sent to the nations but only to those of the land of Israel (Mat. 15:24).
The apostle Paul prepares us gentiles for the heavenly destiny now revealed in his final epistles. He does not stop at saying the resurrected body is incorruptible, glorious, powerful and spiritual, but goes on saying a still greater change will occur than these words suggest. It will no longer be earth bound, but celestial. It is no longer to be a terrestrial body. We are to put on the image of the heavenly (celestial) (1 Cor.15:39-52).
This much he made known to the Corinthians long before the secret of Ephesians was revealed.
2 Tim. 4:18 (CLV) The Lord will be rescuing me from every wicked work and will be saving me for His celestial kingdom: to Whom be glory for the eons of the eons. Amen!
Furthermore, we are told that the bride has make herself ready. This is to be accomplished by those Jewish followers who repent, believe and keep the law. For the Jewish followers, they were to show their faith by works (James chapter 2). But the body does NOT make itself ready, only the bride.
Gal. 2:16 (KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
One in Christ
Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Titus 3:5 (KJV) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
The Scriptures differentiate the terms "body and bride" by declaring that Christ puts together the church, which is His body, ready, presenting it to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle or any things, but that it should be holy and flawless (Eph.5:25-30), while the "bride makes herself ready" (Rev.19:7). The uniting of the two in one produces a contradiction.
Summing up:
The "Bride of the Lamb" is a church, a " called - out" people of the nation of Israel who inherit the kingdom with all its promises and glory right here on this earth, and whose home will be a holy city, the new Jerusalem, when it descends out of heaven from God and takes its place on the new earth in the last eon.
The "Body of Christ" is a church, a " called - out" people is a church from the gentiles and the nation of Israel, "through the gospel of which Paul became the dispenser," who, "in spirit, become joint inheritors, and a joint body, and joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus," with a heavenly destiny, blessed with every spiritual blessing among the heavenlies of the great firmament of God.
Another earlier thread that discusses this question is:
https://tentmaker.org/forum/discussions-on-universal-salvation/those-who-believe-in-exclusion/
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Yep, Paul would mention Jew in the body of Christ, when there actually aren't any, right?
No thanks...
Don't brides have bodies?
Oh, a little off topic, but light is both a wave and a particle. It may seem contradictory, but it is still true. I suspect the same may be here.
Luk 7:9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!"
Mar 3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Luk 11:17 Since he knew what they were thinking, he told them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is devastated, and a divided household collapses.
The "2 Gospels" sure sounds like a kingdom divided against itself.
Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
James does not say works of the law! This is Christ working in you!
Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
This is the definition of circumcision:
Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ
2Co 8:24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.
2Th 1:11 for which also we do pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of the calling, and may fulfil all the good pleasure of goodness, and the work of the faith in power
Col 2:6 as, then, ye did receive Christ Jesus the Lord, in him walk ye,
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Isn't bearing fruit the works? Notice, faith brings forth the works, the fruit doesn't bring forth the faith!
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Again, I could give more and more verses. But, it would be futile, as those who believe the 2 gospels actually is true will just explain all these verses away.
Well in biblical marriage we learn that when a bride and groom marry the two become one, so it seems moot to me, as Christ's body and Christ's bride will become one.
:thumbsup:
Quote from: GodIsLove on October 10, 2018, 03:21:13 AM
Well in biblical marriage we learn that when a bride and groom marry the two become one, so it seems moot to me, as Christ's body and Christ's bride will become one.
Well, I love God, but I have no desire to marry Jesus. For starters, Jesus was a man.
amen.. Jesus marries the body of believers.. metaphor.. yet the same as when Jesus prayed to the Father for believers praying we would be one as He and the Father are one..
The Bride of Christ is to me , the good land promised long ago of GOD our heavenly Father ... with bounty and bands /boundaries , the beautiful land [Isaiah 66 ] the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ .
The body of Christ , Him being the authority and covering and LIVING WORD by faith that cannot ever deny Himself . .