Ephesians 5:31–32

Adam falls into a deep sleep. God takes a rib out of his side and builds a woman from it. Then God Himself marries our first parents. Is not this a beautiful picture of Christ and the church? He falls into the deep sleep of death, and through His death He forms His Bride. Thousands of years later the believers at Ephesus read in Paul's letter how a husband should behave towards his wife. Yet that was not the main thought. Paul used their earthly relationship as a picture of Christ and His church... But if we throw doubt on Genesis, we throw doubt on Ephesians too.

Marriage begins a new estate. Father and mother are to be loved and honoured still, but relied on no longer as protectors. The man departs from his state of dependence as a son to become himself the head of a new house.

Before a man marries, his chief relationship is that of a son. His responsibility is towards his parents. But when he marries he leaves his father and mother and holds fast to his wife. From then on she becomes his chief care, for he and she are no longer two but one flesh.

God established marriage as the first of human relationships. He makes it clear for all later generations that a man should leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is just as clear that the woman should leave her parents to become fully devoted to her husband. The word "cling" is beautiful here. It involves the reality of love, of devotedness and of faithfulness.

I hardly need to say that this verse rules out everything opposed to complete confidence in such a relationship. The husband, if he acts in the spirit of it, has no secret from the one who is part of himself.

The man who loves his wife loves himself, and he is to leave other relationships to be joined to his wife. The Apostle quotes from Genesis. But he states clearly that this is a great mystery about Christ and the church. Christ, as Man, left all relations with Israel according to the flesh to secure His church.

This is sometimes applied to Christ's becoming man, but it is the opposite of that. It does not mean Christ taking our flesh and bone; it means our being made members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is our relationship to Christ risen from the dead, not Christ's relationship to us as a man on earth... It is our union with Him, not His incarnation.

The mystery is no longer "hidden in God"; it is disclosed. You must always keep this in mind when you read about the mystery — it is now revealed and nothing is left in the dark. God sets the secret out in His own light, and He expects the simplest Christian to receive it. Could any words do more to destroy the common idea that a mystery means something we cannot understand, and that a godly person dare not look into?

Here we have a special part only: the union of the Church with Christ, as of His body, His bones and His flesh. This union sets the Church in its own special and wonderful place, when all was headed up in Christ in heaven and earth. It is a special mystery to itself.

The emphasis of the Apostle's language is very remarkable. All the mysteries of God are the subject of His stewardship. Even so, the only other place where he speaks of a great mystery is where he describes the coming of the Living One in flesh, and its effects, under the title of the "mystery of godliness." Only one wonder is greater: the Son of God taking our flesh. Next to it stands this mystery, which declares the Church to be the acceptable spouse of Christ.

The relationship of husband and wife is not simply a convenient illustration. Ephesians 5 makes it clear that God modelled marriage on what He had in His mind: the relationship of Christ and the church. That relationship of Christ and His church was in the Divine mind in eternity, and in time God set up the relationship of husband and wife.

The particular way God made Eve out of Adam gives marriage a special holiness. The husband is to cherish his wife as part of his own being. It also supplies a beautiful picture of Christ's relationship with the Church. As Adam was not complete without Eve, so Christ, though Head over all, is not complete without the Church... As Adam fell into a deep sleep, so Christ went into death. As Eve was formed out of Adam, so the Church is given life with Christ, and has His own life.

The word "sacrament" comes from the Latin sacramentum, the oath of loyalty taken by Roman soldiers. So it is a church term, not a Scriptural one. The Latin translation uses it for the Greek word mysterion, mystery. It does so in Eph. 5:32, where the Apostle speaks of marriage. From this, the Roman Catholic church makes marriage a sacrament. The absurdity of this is clear. If the Greek word mysterion always meant a sacrament, the usual church sense of the word would be gone. Think of "the mystery of the gospel," "the mystery of godliness," "the mystery of iniquity." And if it does not always mean that, then on what authority in Eph. 5:32?

The full union is still only a hope. Yet the Christian husband or wife believes that such a relationship exists, and that belief is to govern their feelings about the merely natural tie. Loving from principle, in the power of faith, is something different from obeying a natural instinct... Here we are taught that among Christians, Christ is to be the one rule that governs every relationship a member of His body may be called to fill.