Alright, we're breaking in Paul's
exhortive part of the commentary, and actually we're reading the
very last phrase of one of those flowing a liturgy from the Apostle,
long paragraphs that Paul sometimes wrote. This is the end of it,
and then we go. Verse 21, submitting yourself
one to another in the fear of God. Now that is an exhortation. Now he's going to carry that
out. Verse 22 and following, first of all, wives, submit yourself
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, So let their wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church, gave himself for it, that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water
by the word. that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his
wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church. Now watch from here to the end,
for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, that
every one of you in particular shall love his wife even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Now, eventually
we'll come to verse 32. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Let me begin by saying
that, once again, We are highly privileged to sit at the feet
of the Apostle Paul by means of this great epistle that he
has written unto the church at Ephesus. And he, being dead,
yet speaketh unto us by the epistles that the Spirit of God moved
him to write. Now, this epistle of Ephesians
is an absolute gem in every sense of the word for its portrayal
of the way of salvation as proceeding from eternal election before
the world ever began, as being chosen by the Father, redeemed
by the incarnate Son, and quickened or regenerated by the Holy Spirit
of God, telling us how it is that the Jew and the Gentile
are reconciled together in one body by the death and through
the cross of Christ our Lord. But our present text is found
in what might be called the practical or the instructive or the exhortive
section of the epistle or letter. Usually you will find that it
was a fact with the authors of the New Testament epistle, and
especially, was it true of Paul, to set out first the doctrinal
part of the Scripture, or to expose any error or to correct
any error that was there concerning their doctrine. And then, following
the doctrinal section, to set forth proper Christian behavior
based upon the doctrines that are set forth in the earlier
part of the epistle, to exhort and to instruct, to point out
things that one ought to refrain from, how to avoid pitfalls that
one ought not to fall into, how to interact with our brother
and our sisters in Christ, how to view the present age and the
inhabitants of it, and many other profitable things there are along
the way in this epistle. Or, as Paul tells Timothy, 1
Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, how one ought to behave themselves
in the household of God the Church, which is the pillar of the truth
and of the ground of truth. Now, looking at our context today,
beginning at verse 1 of chapter 4, Paul exhorts them there, beginning
the exhortive section, to walk worthy of the vocation, or literally,
the calling whereby you have been called. Walk worthy of that
great and high calling of God that has come unto you. And the
word therefore or then in chapter 4 and verse 1 seems to join the
practical section with the doctrine of. So that the first is built
upon the foundation of the second. That is, sound doctrine is absolutely
necessary to right Christian living. None can live the Christian
life without sound doctrine. Christian living is based upon
Christian doctrine. So, as John Edict wrote in his
introduction to the fourth chapter of Ephesians, and I'm quoting,
it is vain to tell the dead man to rise up and walk till the
principle of life be restored. Listen to this, one must be a
child of God before they can be a servant of God. Then follows
in the epistle various and sundry exhortation to the practice of
Christian principle and virtue. And among them, in chapter 4,
verse 17 through verse 19, wherein the apostle addresses particularly
the Gentile section of the church, as he had done in Ephesians 2
and verse 11. In time, Pat, You were Gentiles
in the flesh. And he tells him here that they
no longer walk or should walk. They no longer should live as
other Gentiles live. In great spiritual darkness and
open immorality. When Paul describes them, verse
17, 18, and 19 of chapter 4, look at verse 17, walking in
the vanity of their mind. In verse 18, a darkened understanding
and alienated from the life of God, Verse 19, being past feeling,
so as to be swallowed up with all manner of uncleanness, having
sold themselves, having abandoned the right way, giving themselves
up to all sorts of lewdness. And they had been called by God
away from that way of life. But now come with me to chapter
5, And it takes us to the very door or the very threshold of
our text of the morning where Paul calls upon believers to
do a very hard thing. Look what he said. be submitting
themselves one to another in the fear of God. Look at that,
be submitting yourself one to another and do so as an inducement
in the fear of God. Now this introduces another aspect
of Christian virtue which John Eady called, and I quote, mutual
deference and submission, unquote. Calvin pointed out here on this
particular verse of scripture that nothing is more contrary
to our human spirit and our pride than submitting ourselves unto
others. And so he includes here a proper
inducement at the end in the fear of God. It is to be done
as reference unto Christ. Remember Ephesians 4? And verse
32, forgiving one another even as God in Christ hath forgiven
you. And here in verse 22, when the
wife submits unto her husband, she is in essence submitting
unto Christ and the ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the idea of submission Paul
expands upon at some length, but giving the fuller application
of it to the subjection of the Christian wife unto her own husband
because it is such a proper reflection of the union of Christ and His
church. Now, I grant this is a passage
of Scripture that men like roosters sometimes like to crow and to
quote to their wives. And women might sometimes bristle
at this section of the Scripture. But however, the submitting wife
is not Paul's only or leading specific example. Let's look
a little further ahead, jumping over into chapter 6, verse 1
through 3. Obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. The wife and the husband are
not the only ones. Then look at chapter 6 and verse
4. The fathers are their counsel
in regard to watching out against harshness in guiding their children
and discipline them and raising them. Then look at chapter 6
and verse 5. Servants are addressed, are literally
slaves, were to be obedient unto their master. They had been called
now to be Christian, been called by Christ. And they were to be
obedient unto their masters, or the word is lords, and notice,
after or in the flesh. And again, it was to be done,
look, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ. In verse 7, as
to the Lord. Finally, in chapter 6 and verse
9, the masters, or the lords, are here admonished as well. to treat their slaves as Christian
brethren, to forbear threatening and violence against them, since
they, as earthly master, have a master in heaven which they
must answer to as well. For every master, or every Lord,
in the flesh or on the earth, has a master, and that is God
our Christ. Thus it is that this submission
runs all the way down the line. All of us, regardless of our
status. o submission and are to practice
it as part of our Christian life and living. And then this point
before we move along. The Christian wife is not degraded
by submitting herself unto her husband as a head any more than
the church is degraded by submitting itself unto Christ our Lord and
our head. Nor is the husband in any kind
of bondage in recognizing that though he is the head of the
wife, that he also has a head in Jesus Christ. Children are
not degraded by obeying their parents. It will not ruin their
self-esteem for life. And slaves in giving service
to their master, nor earthly master in giving service to their
heavenly master, are not degraded in any of that. Now to our text
where Paul draws out a long analogy between a husband and wife, and
Christ and the church. Now there are some things that
are analogous about the two relationships, marriage and the union of Christ
and His church. There are points of resemblance
in these two relationships, such a likeness as can be drawn. An inference that can be seen
here, type and anti-type, unions that have some things in common
one with another, especially when we view the church as the
bride of Christ our Lord, the wife of Jehovah or the people
of God. Do you remember what Paul said
to the Corinthian church? He said to them, I desire to
present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ. Therefore, he desired
them to be pure in life and in doctrine. II Corinthians 11 and
verse 2. Now I'm reading here from Calvin
in Ephesians chapter 5 where he wrote that in some things
and up to a point Christ has appointed the same order between
husband and wife as that existing between him and his church. And here's what Calvin wrote.
God has set the husband over the wife, and an image of their
headship is found in Christ, who is the head of the church
as the husband is of the wife. Now, if you're in chapter 5 with
me, let's scan the text, and we will see the likeness and
the resemblance, the contrast and comparison from Paul. Let's read. Verse 23. again. For the husband is ahead of the
wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and is the Savior
of the body. Look again, verse 24. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husband in everything. Verse 25. Husbands, love your
wife even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. Now, in this passage of Scripture,
Paul is constantly going back and forth between the two unions
that are discussed here, that of husband and wife, a shadow
of that of Christ and His church. And these two unions, with the
exception of that union that exists between the Holy Three
in the Godhead, are two of the most intimate union in all of
existence to be found whether in heaven or in earth. Take, for example, the marriage
union as seen in verse 31. A man shall leave his father
and mother and cleave unto his wife. They shall be joined together
as one flesh." A reference here to Genesis 2 and 24. We'll go
there later in our study. In verse 30 again, of Christ
and the church, we have a picture here. Though one union is typical
or representative or true of the other, Yet in these analogies
that Paul uses, the husband is the counterpart of Christ and
the wife is the counterpart of the church. And Paul makes use
of these, as Lange's commentary put it, to enjoin love upon the
husband and submission upon the wives. See what Christ is toward
the church? what He has done for it, and
what the ultimate end of it is intended to be. Verse 23, He's
the Head, He's the Savior of the body. By body, I understand
to be Another way of referring unto the church of the Lord called
the body of Christ in Ephesians 1, 22, 23, in Colossians 1, 18,
and Colossians 1, 24. Verse 25, He loved the church
and He gave Himself for it. And that's why Paul said in verse
32, This is a great mystery, but I'm speaking of Christ and
the church. So let's key on the words in
verse 25 for now as we work our way down the text. That he loved
the church and he gave himself for it. Notice, he loved He gave. John 3.16 comes to mind. God
so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. Only recently we
use that text in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2, that Christ loved
us and has given Himself for us. How come Him to so love the
church? Why is it that Christ so loved
the church? How is it that Christ came to
have her sins imputed unto Him to bear on the cross? What is
the ground of both of those things, that he loved the church and
that he gave himself for it. And in seeking to get our minds
around this, let's hear something again from the 32nd verse. This is a mystery. This is a great mystery and it
concerns Christ and the church. See again what is said in verse
30. We are members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bone. Here's another connection that
I guess I had not made sooner. Sometimes I'm a little bit slow
to catch on, but listen to it again if you will. We are members
of his flesh, of his body, and of his bones. Now, let that sink
in. We're coming back to it later.
We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. This is a great mystery, but
I'm speaking it concerning Christ and His church. Look at that!
Members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Now where else
in Scripture do we read similar words unto that? Let your mind
run back. Where in Scripture Do we read
words similar to thee? And I say they're in Genesis
chapter 2 and verse 23, and they're found in the context of Genesis
2, 18 through verse 25, which gives an account of God providing
a wife suitable for Adam. And, of course, the method you
already know, that the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam,
that he opened up his side, that he took out a rib from Adam,
that he closed up the side again, and from that rib the Lord God
made a full-grown woman as a wife for Adam. And he brought her
unto the man. He presented that wife unto the
man Adam. And then Adam, seeing her, approving
her, pleased with her in every way, said in Genesis chapter
2 and verse 23, This being, this suitable help me is now, underline
the word now, some say the Hebrew has it this time. He said this
being, this, this time is now bone of my bone and flesh of
my flesh because of the unique and peculiar relation that she
had unto Adam. being in Him and being given
life and being from Him are out of His substance. Having been
in Him, grab this, will you? having been in him all along,
out of his substance, brought forth then out of him and into
a marriage union. And from then until now, It has
never been the case again. It has never happened on this
wise again that a man got away in such a way as Adam. Well, do we ask ourselves then
the question, how had Adam this knowledge? How did Adam know
this? How did Adam say this? Being
in a very deep sleep when it was done, How did he know that
she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh? That she
was actually what Matthew Henry called her, quote, his second
self, unquote. I like that statement. His second
self, S-E-L-F. Was it told him by God? Did God explain to him, Adam,
this is what I have done? Or was it given unto him by some
kind of special revelation? By a dream? Or perhaps by a vision? We're not told. We're not told
how Adam knew and why he said. But another interesting question
is, why did God create the female man in this manner? Why did He create the second
self in this manner? We do not read of any such manner
being used in providing a female for any other of the species
that God had created or made. Male and female of other species
were made in the same way at the same time. Not the female
from the male. In every case, the human pair
was created by God. Why then did not God also form
the woman from the dust of the ground as He had done Adam originally
or earlier? This He might have done. He could have done it if it pleased
Him and would have done it if it were pleasing and according
to His pleasure. Or, listen now, sharpen your
attention and focus, was there something typical and mystical
about the arrangement of a wife for Adam called Eve? Was there something typical and
mystical? Paul thought so. And we have
that in Ephesians chapter 5, that there is something here
that is typical of Christ and of His church. I think Calvin
saw this drift when he wrote, something was taken from Adam
which he embraced as part of himself And he said, this is
now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Now again, why did
Adam so joyfully embrace Eve and love her? Why was she precious
unto him? Well, because she was part of
him. She was taken out of him. She was given her being and her
life through Him. Her very life was directly derived
from Adam. And I say life and also her being. And as we just said, Paul finds
this typical of Christ and His church, and listen to him say,
we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. Ephesians 5 and verse 30. He puts it like this in 1 Corinthians
12, 12 and 13. He being the head, yet the many
members making up the body. Christ is the head, the many
members. That is, the individual Christians,
the called and converted elect make up the body or sometimes
call the temple. of Christ. Now, concerning the
oneness of Christ and His church, I would that you hear this quote
from John Owen from a section in his writing dealing with the
subject of the imputation of the sins of the church unto Christ. He said this, I quote, the principal
foundation hereof is that Christ and the church in this design
were one mystical person which state they do actually coalesce
unto and through the uniting efficacy of the Holy Spirit."
He is the head and believers are the members of that person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result of this vital
union, what they deserved on account of their sin was imputed
to Christ required of him and paid by him in his death upon
the cross. What they deserved, sin's punishment,
was imputed unto Christ, and righteousness imputed unto them
as surely as if it were their own. But once more, Let's put
these two verses together side by side, looking at them again
and more closely. And the two verses I have in
mind is Ephesians 5 and verse 30 and Genesis 2 and verse 23. When Adam, by some knowledge
called Eve, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And Paul says
of the church that we are members of his body, of his flesh, and
of his bone. Paul takes the case of Adam and
of Eve to be typical and pictorial of Christ and His church. Thomas Goodwin, another one of
my favorite writers, wrote that the mystery of Christ and His
church, quote, were prefigured and foresignified at and by the
very first creation of man, end quote. And though Adam, Adam
was unaware of the full impact of his words. Adam, like other
who made prophecy, did not fully see the end or understand that
which he was speaking. But they were to a great degree
prophetical. For in the formation and the
marriage union of the two, which, by the way, was much more typical
before they sinned and fell when they were yet in their state
of innocence. As Goodwin noted, however, is
typical of the everlasting purpose concerning Christ and His church,
and that it was veiled here under the type and the shadow of the
first man and the first woman, the first husband and the first
wife in Genesis chapter 2. And Goodwin made the point that
in both Adam's formation and marriage we have the first subject
capable of being a type of Christ and His Church. In the first
pair, we have the first subject capable of being a type of Christ
and His Church. Remember that Adam was said to
bear the image of God in his original state. the first to
bear or exist in human nature. And of Christ we read that He
is the first begotten. Hebrews 1 verse 6. John 1 verse
14. John 1 and 18. John 3 and verse
16. The only begotten. The last three
verses calling Him the only begotten Son of God. Not only so, but
in Colossians 1.15, he is the image of the invisible God and
the firstborn of every creature. Adam, made originally in the
image of God Christ, is the very image of God and the firstborn
of every creature. Now, let's notice another quotation
from Genesis chapter 2 that Paul cites in Ephesians 5 and verse
31. Look at it. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto
his wife. Genesis 2.24 says, cleave unto
his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And I'm left wondering,
Is this meant only to husbands and wives, or is it a part of
the mystery concerning, slash, having to do with Christ and
His church? Remember, Paul has already said
in verse 30, we are members of His flesh, and of course that
means in a spiritual sense. I'm not exactly sure how to take
that verse at this time. But there is this sure element
in both union of Adam and Eve and also of Christ and the church. And that is that in both instances
it is said, we are bone of bone and flesh of flesh. to their
respective husband, Eve to Adam, and the church unto Christ. So
that they are viewed in a unique relationship. They are viewed
as one. A union impossible in any other
relationship that we might imagine or name. And as Calvin wrote
in Ephesians 5, All depends on this, that the wife slash bride
in each case was given being and was formed of the union with
respect under the husband." In Paul's mystery. By the way, the
word mystery here, the word musterion, a secret, a hidden thing that
is above natural apprehension, something that can be known only
by and through divine revelation, a thing that by its very nature
may not be known unless it is spiritually revealed by the Spirit
of God. A mystery is something that is
hidden, that cannot be known until it is made clear, brought
out into the open and is revealed. And such is the union of Christ
and His church. that she, like Eve, receives
her life from him, just as the branches of the tree receive
their life from the root and through the trunk. Or as Calvin
put it, he pours his life into us or into the church. And as
Eve was essentially in Adam before she was formed into a bodily
form, at several times stated, she was bone of his bone and
flesh of his flesh and was called woman-ish because she was taken
out of man-ish. The margin has it. Sometimes
you might hear the expression Eternal, vital union. If you haven't heard it, store
it away in your memory bank. Eternal, vital union. That means that the elect were
chosen in Christ by an election of grace before the foundation
of the world. Read it in Ephesians 1 and 3
through 6 for yourself. They were given unto Christ. John 17, and verse 6, they were
yours and you gave them unto me. And as God provided a spiritual,
or rather, a physical wife for Adam, or literally, out of Adam,
so God has provided a spiritual wife for His Son, which also
is taken out of Him. The church is holy and only attains
her being and her life out, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now wind down our study. We have
read that He loved the church and He gave Himself for her that
she might have life. He loved her for no man ever
yet hated his own flesh. I think that's true of Christ
as it is true of the husband in the marriage union. He loved
her for no man ever hated his own flesh or body. Then I call your attention quickly
to the aim or the purpose of Him giving Himself. It is set
forth here in this text that we have read in verse 26 and
verse 27. Would you look at them again?
That He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by
the Word. That He might present it unto
himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So here is the object of the
husband's love and the purpose of giving himself to purge and
to purify, to sanctify, to wash, to cleanse in order to present
it to himself a glorious church free of every sin and every defect. Verse 26, that he might bathe
it by the washing of the Word. Verse 27, to present to himself
a glorious church, not with spot or with wrinkle. So in closing,
the church is the seed of gospel worship, as John Gill wrote. Not the church house or building,
but the called-out assembly. The church is not property or
ornate building, but the church are the people who make up the
church or the congregation, met together to worship the risen
Christ in all of His glory. The church is not a social club. It is not Mother's Day out, or
arts and craft. It is not a gym for working out
and staying fit. But Gill called it, quote, a
particular assembly of saints meeting in one place for religious
worship, unquote. There is the church assembled
together. The purpose? To exalt Christ,
to edify the saints. That's why we come together. Not to play, not to have fun,
not to have this or that, but to worship our Christ and edify
the saints of God. And a gospel church is the seat
of gospel worship, must therefore have Christ acknowledged as its
head and follow him and devote itself to him and unto his ordinances. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church.