Is the idea of aspiritual marriagebiblical?

Look at 2 Corinthians 11:2: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Paul is writing to the Corinthian saints. Who could be the “one Husband” but Christ, and what idea is given when he speaks of presenting them “as a chaste virgin” to Christ? Marriage is used as a symbolism and we must clear our minds of materialism. It is a symbolism setting forth the deep affection of Christ to His own on the one hand, and the necessity of holiness, moral suitability to the Lord on the other.

"Soul union with Jesus" is language unknown to scripture. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," and by the Spirit we know we are members of His body, and in Him, and He in us. Hosea 2:16, 19, 20, applies to Israel, and has no reference to "soul union." In Romans 7:4 they have been betrayed by the word "married," which is not in the original; and further this should have shewn them that it is a question of the Christian state; for till then those spoken of were in the flesh, not of Christ; and it is by the Holy Ghost dwelling in them that they are not in the flesh; Rom. 8:9.

But union is never said to be by or in new creation, but accomplished in a very different way. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit;" and the context shows that it is of marriage the apostle is speaking: "For two, saith He, shall be one flesh; but he that is united to the Lord is one spirit." Such a figure is not and could not be applied to new creation. The Creator is not united to the creature, nor the parent to the child; but the head is united to the body, the husband to the wife, and the apostle in Eph. 5:25-33 applies both these as illustrative of the Church's relationship to Christ. A man's wife is his own flesh, his body: and "no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ the Church; for we are members of His body."

For I repeat, we are put into this relationship with Christ at the present moment. It is not that we have the hope merely of being made the bride of Christ by and by: we are espoused to Christ now. We shall have the marriage or the actual consummation by and by, when all the members are brought in. But the great and blessed and practical thing for our souls is, that we are brought into this position of union now. It is not only that the affection on which the marriage is grounded is true now; but more than this, the Holy Ghost is on earth uniting the saints to Christ in heaven, and making them as truly one with Him now as they ever will be. When Christ comes, there will be the removal of all hindrances — the putting aside of what Satan employs to make us forget our relationship to Christ, and the change of our vile body according to the body of His glory. But it is important to remember that our oneness with Christ as His body depends on the presence of the Holy Ghost, who has knit us up with Christ in heaven. We are one with Him now.

Here, then, the Holy Ghost seems to show that there are others to be there, not as the bride, but as guests, so to speak. These are the called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You may remember John the Baptist speaking of himself as the friend of the Bridegroom. I presume that those who are here said to be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb answer somewhat to the friends of the Bridegroom. They are not angels, for the word "called unto the marriage" would not be said of angels. These last are never characterised as "called" because the elect angels have always abode in their first estate. The calling of God comes to those who are in a low place to deliver them out of it. We have all, I suppose, been in the habit of assuming that if a man is a saint of God he necessarily belongs to the church, and that there is only one common blessing for all saints of all times. Here you find the contrary laid down plainly, and upon the face of scripture. You have here a marriage supper, and one singled out for especial joy, called the bride, the Lamb's wife (composed, it may be, of myriads of people, but here recognized in unity of blessing, being united under one term, that of "the bride," to show that they have the same portion of love and blessedness). But this is not true of all saints, for there are others who are not in this position; they are present as guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb, not as His bride.

I think it will be found that all the scriptures will bear out this difference; and, clearly, it strongly affects our position, while we learn distinctly the aspect of faithfulness which the Church should present; its utter separation from the world and all secular help; in its character, a chaste virgin unto Christ: γενομένη ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, it has lost all its character as well as relationship. When the spirit of the risen Saviour is in me, I am so far united unto Him, and so ought I to keep myself: I am vitally and everlastingly one with Him; but the Church corporate is not so married unto Him, for indeed it is not yet formed. To assume the privileges of a wife does not become her position; not to have more than the modesty of one in her deportment as ill suits her state. She shall reign queen over all her Lord's goods, and rule in His house with Him: fidelity of hope to one long absent from His pledged love — as a stranger therefore in the midst of all that knows Him not — her present portion. Whether receiving the tokens of His love to her from on high or not, faithfulness to Him is her clear part. The world may count her case foolish and hopeless; but she knows in whom she has believed, and she may be content to abide the jest of those who know it not, because she has the secret of His love by His Spirit dwelling in her, and will rejoice in that day when He makes good His faithfulness, and celebrates hers, before those that have despised her. (Compare Rev. 3:8-9.)

We can see the importance of our affections being in touch with God in a right and true way in relation to what is developed here because Paul's writings make it manifest that God's great thought in the institution of marriage was Christ and the church. So that whilst on the surface this may seem elementary, it underlines in a very special way what is spiritual.

But there are deeper things prefigured. The apostle refers to these words both in 1 Cor. 6 and in Eph. 5; and each is of the highest interest and importance, though the one he individual, and the other corporate. The fleshly union, shameful out of marriage, God would have honourable under marriage, honourable in all things (Heb. 13:4); for even the married are gravely exhorted, as the licentious are solemnly warned. But that union is used and meant to remind the Christian of his own blessed privilege: he that is joined to the Lord is (not one flesh but) one spirit. It is indeed in virtue of his receiving the Holy Spirit. Thus is impurity shown to be a sin not only against his own body, but against the Trinity and the price paid. "Glorify God then in your body." The corporate reference is no less striking. "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it," not merely to sanctify it, purifying by the washing of water in the word, but to present it to Himself glorious, the Eve of the Second Man, the Last Adam. Hence He meanwhile nourishes and cherishes it; for we are members of His body. Thereon our text is cited, with the appended comment, "This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ and as to the church." In no way does it yield the paltry sense of "sacrament" which Romanism has drawn from the Vulgate mistranslation, though not without the protest of such as Cajetan and Estius. Holiness is therefore as incumbent on the church as on the christian; and the Holy Spirit abides in the one as in the other to secure it, and to make the sanction of evil inexcusable in either.

In Ephesians 5:32, "This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ and the Church." Here we have a special part only, that is the union of the Church with Christ, as of His body, His bones and His flesh, which set 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 Spirit of God uses the relationship of husband and wife in Ephesians 5 to illustrate the relationship of Christ to His church. Nay further, it is not that the relationship of husband and wife is a convenient illustration, but it is clear from Ephesians 5 that that marriage relationship was modelled on what God had in His mind, the relationship of Christ and the church. That is to say the relationship of Christ and His church was in the Divine mind in the counsels of eternity, and in time the relationship of husband and wife was instituted. So we find Ephesians 5:30 re-echoing the words of Genesis 2:23, which we just quoted, putting them in an infinitely higher and eternal connection, “For we are members of His [Christ’s] body, of His flesh, and of His bones … This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:30, 32).

Verse 32. "This mystery is great," etc. The emphasis of the Apostle's language is very remarkable. Although the mysteries of God are the subject of His stewardship, the only other instance in which he speaks of a great mystery is when, under the comprehensive title of the "mystery of godliness," he describes the incarnation of the Living One and its effects, as the truth of which the Church of God is the pillar and the ground. All that relates to the mystery of godliness is great; for in contemplating it, we look upon God manifest in the flesh. He who can be found out by no search reveals thus to His people the treasures of His grace and truth. And only less great than that first wonder of the personal assumption of our flesh by the Son of God is this mystery which declares the Church to be the acceptable spouse of Christ. Less wonderful, though full of glory, was the eternal purpose that He should become, in the effectual power of redemption, the Dispenser of manifold blessings to a reconciled creation. But that, by the power of the Holy Ghost, there should be prepared a Church, while Christ, the second Adam, still hides Himself in Heaven, and is, as it were, the dormant Holder of the title to universal lordship, which Church is owned by Him in spirit as the Bride of His election and the destined sharer of His throne, when He shall awake as a strong man out of sleep, and shall come forth to assume in power irresistible the dominion which He has received, is a mystery which we may well call great.

Verse 33. It is concerning Christ and the Church that the Apostle speaks, when he magnifies the mystery of wedded union. But of this great mystery the married life of saints should be, in some sort a reflection. While the spiritual consummation is but a hope, the believing acknowledgment that such a relationship subsists is to regulate the feelings with which the Christian man or wife is to regard the merely natural connexion. To love from principle, and in the power of faith, is something different from obeying a natural instinct. Passion may lead to the forming of a contract, which spiritual devoteduess must afterwards maintain. Hence reverence and love, which are the necessary pillars of true matrimonial peace, are here enjoined as duties, rather than relied on as things natural and inherent in the relationship described. Doubtless, a marriage without genuine affection would be no true reflex of the love of Jesus to His spouse. What is taught us here, however, is that, among Christians, Christ is to be the one governing and regulating principle of every relationship which a member of His mystic body may be called upon to fill.