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The Bride of Christ
I recently received a question concerning who the Bride of Christ is. The following is the response that I sent. I thought that it might be helpful (or interesting) to others.
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I want to try to give you an answer concerning the "Bride of Christ." I will give you what I think, then you can put it to study and prayer and see if you agree.
Let me start with a little background:
The following scriptures would indicate that we (as the Church) are definitely the Body of Christ—
Colossians 1:18
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 2:17-19
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
Ephesians 4:15-16
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
1 Corinthians 12:27
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
Romans 12:4-5
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Now—these scriptures would seem to indicate that we are the Bride of Christ—
Romans 7:4
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
2 Corinthians 11:2
2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
To illuminate things even further—this passage combines the concept of the Body of Christ with that of the Bride of Christ—
Ephesians 5:22-32
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Finally, we have this passage to consider—
Revelation 21:9-11
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
So, how do we reconcile all of this?
I believe that the Church is the Body of Christ but is also part of the Bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ consists of the New Jerusalem and its inhabitants (the Church as well as Old Testament saints). We know that the Old Testament saints will be in the New Jerusalem from scriptures such as this one—
Hebrews 11:10-16
10 for he [Abraham] waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude — innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them (compare this to John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And Hebrews 13:14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.).
I hope that this is helpful. Honestly, I wouldn't argue the point with anyone if they felt strongly about another view of the Bride of Christ—as long as it is consistent with the word that we do have on the topic. I wouldn't labor with it. I will say that I see nothing in the scriptures that would indicate that some (true) Christians are not part of the Bride of Christ (there are some people who believe that the Bride of Christ is only a portion of the people who make up the Church). Now—to stir you up a little—I do believe that some Christians will miss the Rapture if they are not looking for it—but that's for another day…
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