The Secret of His Purpose

Chapter 14: Nor Spot, Nor Wrinkle

The final section of chapter five (vs. 22-23) brings us to a consideration of the last of the five great figures of the church which Paul uses in his epistle, the church as the bride of Christ. These verses also form a very valuable and practical exhortation on relationship in the home. In fact, the principles enunciated have pertinent application to all questions of relationship, but as Paul states, the issue with which he is primarily concerned is that of Christ and the church. "This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church" (v. 32).

Paul would seem to suggest in those words that what he really wanted to say about the church has defied his ability to explain it. No figure is adequate to convey everything that is in God's mind. No finite words are sufficient to portray the meaning of what is infinite and eternal. As we shall presently see, there are aspects of the church's life which contradict the laws of human reasoning, but it is well to remember that the logic which governs the life of the church is God's, not man's, and it is man's reasoning that will ultimately be found to be wanting.

The figure of the bride of Christ brings out very clearly seven aspects of the relationship which exists between the Lord and His people: subjection (vs. 22-24), love (v. 25), choice and responsibility (vs. 25-26), joy (v. 27), union and communion (vs. 28-31).

Subjection is necessary in any relationship if it is to prosper. If two partners in a business cannot listen to what the other has to say, and each insists on having his own way, the partnership will inevitably break up. The key to this whole subject is, of course, the subjection of Christ. "The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God," writes Paul to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 11:3). Our Lord Himself said, "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28), and it is because of His subjection to the Father that the church has been made possible. What is more, this subjection of the Son to the Father is eternal. It is a constant fact of their relationship. Paul states this precisely in I Corinthians 15:28, "Then shall the Son also Himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all."

Does this then reduce the Son to an inferior being? In no wise. "I and the Father are one," said our Lord (John 10:30) and in His last prayer for His disciples His petition was that they should be one as were His Father and He (John 17:21-22). These two great facts, the pre-eminence of the Father, demanding subjection, and His unequivocal equality with the Son, are another of the paradoxes of Scripture, irreconcilable to the human mind, yet plainly stated in the Scripture as an example and parallel of the relationship between Christ and the church, and of the relationship also between a man and his wife.

Subjection, to the mind of the worldly person, conjures up a picture of master and slave, yet this is precisely what it is not in the realm of the Spirit. The subjection of the church is subjection no less, but subjection is a divine partnership. "We are God's fellow workers," says Paul (I Corinthians 2:9) which is but an echo of our Lord's own words to His disciples, "No longer do I call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:15). Thus do these two irreconcilables meet in the church, the partnership between God and His people, and the over-ruling lordship of Christ to which our unswerving subservience is due. It is in this wholehearted allegiance and subjection alone that the dignity of the church, the dignity of Christ who begot her, and her power are preserved.

"Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it" (v. 15). In the love of Christ we have the most potent of all reasons for the subjection of His people. We have been raised up to the position of co-workers with God, but the love which made this possible was initiated by Him and not by us. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us," says John (I John 4:10). Of everything good in the assembly God is the initiator. The fruit of the Spirit revealed in the church is but a response to the initiative of God revealed in His irresistible love. Likewise, in the family relationship, as Paul points out, the duty of the wife is subjection, but the responsibility of the husband is to initiate this love and respect which deserves subjection. In v. 5 we see too something of the magnitude of Christ's love. It counted no cost too great to attain its objective. Christ gave Himself. There was nothing that He withheld, either of heavenly glory and position, or of effort and sacrifice when He took upon Himself the form of man. The cost was greater than anything we can ever conceive, yet this cost is the measure of the love of the Lord who dwells in the church as its Head. "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all," wrote Isaac Watts. To those who have tasted anything of the grace of God, can such love go without response? Can it fail to win the devotion and subjection of the assembly?

The whole object of the love of God is to win this end. Love, as we have already seen, is purposeless unless it have an objective, and it is incomplete unless it gains that objective. So in Christ's love we have His reason for choosing the church, and in choosing the church He also accepted a responsibility towards it. He has chosen us that we should bear fruit in His likeness, that we should be sanctified, set apart and holy (v. 26), and the method He uses to fulfil His responsibility towards us is 'the washing of water with the word.'

Already we have looked into the meaning of the Word of God, and have seen that it has various expressions. The main and complete expression which we have today, however, is a book, the Bible, and the knowledge and right use of this book play a most important part in our spiritual lives. Outlining the purpose of Scripture to Timothy, Paul states, "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (II Timothy 3:16-17). The Word of God has a reproving and correcting power which leads to righteousness, or, to use the terminology of Ephesians 5:27, the Word of God, like water, cleanses.

Water is used in many places in Scripture to symbolise the Word of God, and under this symbol we can find a number of pertinent confirmations of the importance of the cleansing which is the object of Christ's working in the assembly.

In the epistle to the Hebrews, two conditions are laid down as essential for full communion with God. Says the writer, "Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22). The sprinkling of the conscience and the washing of water both, of course, refer to Old Testament rites which were themselves types of the work of Christ. The former is a reference to the sacrifices of the great day of atonement, when the blood of the bullock, slain as a sin offering, was sprinkled upon the mercy seat by the high priest (Leviticus 16). This sacrifice looked forward to Calvary where Christ, through the shedding of His blood, offered Himself as an eternal sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is through the merits of His sacrifice that we are born into the family of God and cleansed eternally from the guilt which had shut us out from His presence. There is no approach to God possible other than on this ground of redemption.

Yet the sacrifice of the great day of atonement did not mean that priests and people were automatically fitted for fellowship with God for another year. It did mean that fellowship was their right, but there were many things which could hinder that communion, such as ceremonial defilements and uncleanness contracted in the course of daily living. From all these they had to be cleansed whenever the necessity arose, and this cleansing was by water. Numbers 19 shows us how this was carried out. A red heifer was sacrificed, and the blood was sprinkled 'toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times' (v. 4) indicating to us that, whatever means God uses to accomplish His purpose, all is based on the sacrifice of His Son. Then the carcass was burnt and the ashes mixed with water which was used as a water of purification. When a person contracted any defilement, this water had to be applied, otherwise he was cut off from Israel.

The same principle is revealed in the ministrations of the priests in the tabernacle. Between the tent of meeting and the altar was a laver made of brass and filled with water. At the laver the priests had to wash their hands and feet each time they approached the tent to offer sacrifice. Fellowship with God was possible on the ground of a cleansed relationship and of a cleansed walk.

In each of these ceremonies the water is symbolic of the Word which cleanseth. Our Lord Himself illustrated this principle in the incident of which we read in John 13 when, girding Himself with a towel, He took water and began to wash the feet of His disciples. On Peter's protest, the Lord replied, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me," and in answer to yet another remark of Peter said, "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" (John 13:8,10). The illustration is a very simple one. A man has gone to the well for his daily bath. He washes and is clean, but in walking back to his house his feet become soiled. On reaching home he does not need to bathe all over again, but once the dirt has been washed from his feet, is clean once more.

Our hands and our feet are the parts of our body which come most often in contact with things around us. There can be no excuse for sin in the lives of the children of God. The grace of Christ is sufficient to meet every need and to deal with every temptation. Yet the fact of sin, however inexcusable, cannot be ignored. Through the subtlety of Satan and of the flesh and of contact with the world around, God's people become defiled. The thought of malice, or jealousy, or pride, or a host of other things defile and cloud the fellowship between us and the Lord which is our right. From such defilement we must be cleansed if fellowship is to be restored and if our lives are to reflect that holy and separate testimony which is the object of His choice and responsibility. The cleansing is accomplished through the water of the Word.

The standard of God's Word must ever be before us. The Israelites were enjoined, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Joshua 1:8). The standard of the Lord must be part of our very lives, to lighten our thoughts and actions, to judge and condemn, and to cleanse. To what extent are we ready to subject all that makes up our daily lives to the searching scrutiny of the Word of God? When the Word pronounces judgement, are we ready to accept its condemnation? Are we ready to wash in it and be cleansed? This is God's provision for the necessities of our daily walk, that no sin should mar His purpose, that we should walk the sanctified walk before Him and before the world, and the assembly should be prepared for the day when Christ will present her unto Himself.

Christ, having loved and chosen the church, and having fulfilled His responsibility towards it in cleansing and sanctification, will 'present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish' (v. 27). What must be the attitude of our Lord as He makes this presentation, and what must be the attitude of the church? Surely one of great joy. The shepherd, after his long and weary search for the missing sheep, 'when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing' (Luke 15:5). We may assume that, as far as it was able, the sheep rejoiced too. A mother prepares her little girl for a party. With great care she attends to every item of her dress; her frock has been laundered to perfection; her hair is carefully groomed and gathered together with a bright ribbon tied into a neat bow; and her shoes have a shine fit for a queen. The job is completed. Will not her mother be happy at the result? Will not her little daughter be happy also? This is the joy of the church, the joy of a faithful Lord, and the joy of a grateful people.

Two aspects of the relationship between Christ and the church remain, communion and union. "As Christ also loved the church....even so ought husbands also to love their own wives" (vs. 25, 28). The word 'ought' here is important, because it shows that Christ's love for the church was not mechanical, but was entered into by a conscious act of His own volition. He loved because He wanted to love. It was this love that invoked a response of subjection and love in return. This, then, is communion, the conscious and voluntary flow of love between the Lord and His people.

But v. 31 tells us, "They two shall be one flesh." The Lord and His church are one. One life flows through them both. When the world looks upon the church, the world should see Christ. In praying for the unity of His people, the Lord made two requests, "that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21), and "that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:22). These two requests illustrate the relationship between union and communion in the church. The oneness of the Son with the Father was not a passive unity, but a unity which produced an actual, voluntary co-working, a divine co-operation or communion.

With the advent of the ecumenical movement, the hierarchy of a large section of organised Christianity has started to echo the cry of 'unity.' It does not seem to have been recognised, however, that union without communion is meaningless. Whereas union, on an earthly level, can, with however much difficulty, be worked out by the application of appropriate techniques, given a modicum of human goodwill, understanding, and readiness to compromise, communion is totally dependent on a life which is born of God. The 'communion' of a united participation in ceremonies and ritual by diverse, united groups is but a game, a poor make-believe. Where there is not a heart that feels for one another, a crucifixion of self, and an entrance into 'body consciousness' which is the product alone of regeneration and the continuous flow of the life and vitality of the Spirit, there can be no communion in any spiritual sense, and unity is but a meaningless relationship in death.

It should always be remembered that the foregoing seven characteristics of the relationship between the Lord and His people are not simply matters of personal blessing and privilege between the individual and His Lord. They are characteristics which must pervade the life of the assembly, and the relationship of believer with believer. The whole nature of the church means that, what we are to God, we must be to one another. To know subjection, love, and joy towards Christ means also to know these things towards Him in our brethren, for He is not detached from them. He indwells them. This is what John meant when he wrote, "Whosoever loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him" (I John 5:1). It follows, therefore, that if we know anything of the meaning of the church as the bride of Christ, it will inevitably result in a practical sense of responsibility to nourish and cherish the body of which we are an intrinsic part, even as Christ also nourishes and cherishes the church (v. 29). We have already examined the means whereby this building up of the body is accomplished, through the grace of God expressed in the gifts enumerated in chapter 4:11. Chapter five ends on a note of mutual responsibility. "Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she fear her husband" (v. 23). The Lord has a responsibility towards us. We have a responsibility towards Him, a responsibility fulfilled in the assembly.

Next: Chapter 15: Spiritual Defence