Vs. 30 “for we are members of his body, of his flesh, find of his bones.”

In the preceding verse we read, “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.” The church is the body of Christ, He is its
head, and He nourisheth and cherisheth the church. God’s love for his people is eternal and unconditional, the saved did not merit God’s love, on the contrary, they were I’ll
deserving, and were children of wrath the same as others (Eph. 2:3). Yet, we read of His “great love wherewith he loved us, even when were dead in sins” (Eph. 2:4-5). This great love was effectual in lifting the cloud of wrath from the elect, and place an infinite number of them in the church, which is the body of Christ; (Eph. 1:22). While the Lord cherisieth all of His people, it is only in the church that they are nourished by Him.

“…Thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

“Unto Him (God) be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. A-men” (Eph. 3:21).

The church is the repository and custodian of all divine truth in this age. In commissioning the church the Lord made her His executive body on earth. He entrusted her with the guardianship of His word, and the proclamation of His word. (Matt. 28:18-20). Ten days after Christ’s ascension to His exalted position at the right hand of His Father (Heb. 1:3), and in fulfillment of His promise to authorize and empower the church to perpetually and successfully carry out the commission unto the end of the age He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the church, (Lk. 24:49, Acts 1:8, 2:1-4). While the bride is not promised and easy voyage upon the sea of time, she is guaranteed a safe arrival in glory, Christ is going to present the church to Himself, spotless, blemishless, wrinkleless, and infinitely holy (Eph. 5:27).

The bride and groom relationship is the ultimate union, and it is on this axiom Paul says to the church at Ephesus and too all true churches everywhere, “we are members of His body.” The church is not something apart from Him, but vitally and viably connected to Him. All the redeemed are in Christ, but all the redeemed are not viably connected to Him. A paralytic son is one of a family, and is loved most dearly by his mother and father, but is impotent to contribute meaningfully to his parent’s pursuit of livelihood. Saved persons outside the church (“His body”) get their spiritual livelihood via the Lord’s churches.

Each member of the church is a veritable part of Christ’s body, and is nourished by the head. To be excluded from the church is to suffer spiritual paralysis, but worse, it leaves one to lean on their own strength, and thereby invoke Divine chastisement.

Vs. 31 “for this cause shall a man leave his father arid mother, arid shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.”

The honor which a son is to pay his father and mother does not end with marriage, the love which a son has for his parents is not abolished by his taking a wife, but his love for his wife is to transcend all other human relationships. The proper love between husband and wife will produce an intimacy of such nature that their lives will be laminated, or glued together, as to become “one flesh.” The taking of a wife by a son should not diminish his love for his parents, but conjugal love is superior to that of filial love, yea, it is the strongest love there is, apart from one exception, and that is, the believer’s love for his Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The believer’s love for Christ is the ultimate love that a human can experience; it should transcend by infinite distance all other of his loves. While man is to “leave his father and
mother” to be joined or united to his wife, he is if and when the need arises to leave brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, and children to follow Christ, (Matt. 19:29). Stephen’s faithfulness to his beloved Lord, made his wife a widow (acts 7), and so it was with James, Peter, and thousands of other martyred Baptist husbands. They loved their wives, but went joyfully to the persecutors fire, trusting their families to the providence of God. It is better to go to death in the enemy’s fire, than it is to spend a hundred years on this earth under the frown of God.

Lk. 18:29-30 “and he said unto them, verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” (See also, Mk. 10:29 & Lk. 14:26).

While we are not to equate the church with Christ, it is nevertheless true, to love Christ is to love his church, and to love the church is to love Christ. The believer’s love for Christ can only be manifested by a proper relationship with the church. Children’s disobedience to the wife is considered by the true husband as disobedience to himself, and Christ considers the disobedience of members toward his church as disobedience to Himself.
A husband that is faithful to the church will be faithful to his wife, he will love her as he loves his own body, but let the husband become derelict in his duties toward the church, and his wife will in due season discover an infirmity in her husbands love for her. Conjugal love may continue, but an element of sensuality will enter into it, and if there is not a soon return to the first love (Christ and His church), that little leavening of sensuality may leaven the whole love affair.

A spouse that would stand in the way of his/her mate’s dedication to the church opposes themselves, and cannot help but be the loser. Human love be it ever so strong is ever in jeopardy unless it has for its foundation love for Christ, for it is love for Christ that begets and perpetuates lasting love between husband and wife, and all others.

Vs. 32 “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

All through the narrative Paul highlights the responsibility of the conjugal union, he says to the wives, “wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Then He says to the husbands, “husbands, love your .wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:22, 25).
Then he concludes the narrative, saying, “...i speak concerning Christ and the church.” By paraphrasing, Paul says,”the best of marital unions are patterned after Christ and the church. The husband is to measure up to the ideal of Christ in his love for the church, and wives are to measure up to the church in its devotion to Christ.” If this divine injunction was followed through, divorce would be absolutely alien to the Baptist home, for we know the gates of hell can never prevail against the betrothal relationship of Christ and His church. The closer the conjugal union comes to the pattern of Christ and his church the greater and deeper is the significance of that coveted relationship.

“This is a great mystery. . .” the “mystery” Paul refers to is no longer a mystery, for though it was hid for ages, it has been revealed to Paul and through him to all the churches. Paul uses the word “mystery” six times in his letter to the Ephesians, and in every instance it has reference to something already revealed. In Eph. 6:19, he requests prayer that he “…makes known the mystery of the gospel.” To make it known is to foreknow it.

The mystery disclosed places Jews and Gentiles in the body (church) of Christ with equal rank, there is no spiritual inferiority in Christ which results from race. Paul’s responsibility was clearly delineated in the revelation given him by Christ. In this vision
it was made know to Paul that God’s church was to be built from both Jews and Gentiles, but Paul’s particular mission was to proclaim to the Gentiles that they were on common ground with Jews as to elective grace, and were designed by God to become the major part of the body of Christ, i.e., the church. (see page two of lesson seventeen).

Vs. 31 “nevertheless let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

“Nevertheless,” herewith, Paul calls for a refreshing of the mind with all he has mentioned relating to the conjugal relationship both spiritual and human. One may fail in comprehending the “mystery” of Christ and His church, or he may fail to see every likeness in the analology between the human and divine conjugal relationship, yet the force and simplicity of the language Paul uses in verse thirty one cannot be escaped.

“…let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself…” “Everyone of you,” and to make it all the more emphatice he adds, “in particular.” So, no husband is exempt, all are to love their wives as he loves himself, and to facilitate his love, he is to acknowledge that his wife, according to the pattern is part and parcel of himself. Wife, revererence your husband. The duty of the wife is to respect, duty of husband – deserve respect.