The Church 1

2Cor 11:2 is used by some to teach that the virgin referred to Symbolizes the church, but that is not what Paul is teaching. He is simply addressing his converts in Corinth and he tells them that he is anxious for them with the deep concern of God Himself - anxious that their love should be for Christ alone, just as a virgin saves her love for one man only: for the one who will be her husband. But Paul feared that in some way they would be led astray from their simple love and devotion for Christ, just as Eve was deceived by Satan in the Garden of Eden (cp 2 Cor 11:2-4). When kept in its proper perspective it soon becomes clear that V2 does not teach that the church is the Bride of Christ.

Furthermore, Paul is only addressing his own converts in Corinth, not the whole church which extends far beyond Corinth in the earth. It is not Paul's job to present the whole church to Christ, only his own converts. Every Christian will have rejoicing in their own converts (cp Dan 12:3; 1Cor 3:11-14; 2Cor 1:14; Php 4:1; 1Th 2:19-20). In Eph 5:22-33 Paul is teaching us of Christ's infinite love for the church. He compares the relationship of Christ and the church to that of a man and his wife. He is not teaching that the wife Symbolizes the church or that the husband Symbolizes Christ. He simply teaches that the relationship of Christ and the church is more easily understood through the dynamics of the marriage relationship between a husband and wife (cp Eph 5:22-33) . The great mystery Paul refers to in Eph 5:32 is that marriage is a sacred reflection of the magnificent and beautiful mystery of union between Christ and the church which was completely unknown until revealed in the New Testament. Now we will look at the true Bride of Christ (cp Rev 19:7-9 with Rev 21:2, 9-10, 18-27).

This is the Bride of Christ: the Holy City, New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem is the Lamb’s wife that “made herself ready” in Rev 19:7, and was “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” in Rev 21:2. She will be adorned with the jewels of Rev 21:18-21. It was granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, pure and white, which is the righteousness of saints, because she will be the eternal home of all the saints of God – Old Testament and New Testament alike – from Abel to the very last soul saved in the Great Tribulation (cp Rev 19:8, with Rev 21:24-27). New Jerusalem is the City of God which God promised to all the Old Testament saints and Jesus promised to all the New Testament saints.

They will all go to live in New Jerusalem together (cp Isa 2:1-4 (also Mic 4:1-3); Jn 14:1-3; He 11:1-2, 13-16; 12:22-23; 13:14; Rev 3:12; with Rev 14:1-5; 15:2-4; 20:4-6; 22:1-5). Finally, the church is also referred to as a man in 2Th 2:7. The he who is presently restraining Antichrist from revealing himself is the church (cp 2Th 2:1-9). This refers to the rapture of the church – when the church will be “caught up” in the air with Jesus when He comes to take all the saints of God back to heaven with Him at the first resurrection (cp Jn 14:1-3; 1Cor 15:12-23, 32, 42-44, 50-58; 1Th 4:13-18; Rev 20:4-6). Many Christians believe that the he of 2Th 2:7 is the Holy Spirit, but that is not correct as the preceding scriptures clearly show. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will still be on earth after the first resurrection to convict the multitudes of their sins who get saved during Antichrist’s reign, because nobody can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit (cp 1Cor 12:3).

There is one more issue concerning the church that needs to be raised here before concluding this segment of our study. There is a conception of the Christian calling in the church that divides Christians into two classes - the clergy and the laity. The clergy designates paid, professional, full-time ministers or priests as opposed to the rest of the church - the laity. This implies a system with grades of status or authority ranking one above another in the New Testament church which is hierarchical, and totally unscriptural. In scripture the terms "clergy" and "laity" refer to the same thing - the church. Clergy does not designate a paid, professional priesthood in scripture as man has designated it (cp 1Pe 5:2-3).

The word "heritage" in V3 here is from the Greek word kleros which means "clergy", and it is clearly referring to the church – the so-called "laity". Laity is from the Greek word Laos, meaning people, which almost totally refers to the church in scripture, but when used by men to distinguish it from the clergy it designates those who do not hold a ministry office in the church. Yet God designates the laity a "Royal Priesthood" (cp 1Pe 2:9; Rev 5:1-6).

It is patently obvious that if scripture designates Christians as being both God's clergy and priesthood then there are no distinctions in the church. Any distinctions are strictly functional and do not determine the superiority of one group of Christians in the church over another (cp 1Cor 12:4-25). This very clearly teaches that no member of the church is insignificant or inferior, and that every member has a ministry to fulfil (cp Ro 12:1-8; 1Cor 12:4-11, 28; 2Cor 5:17-20). The laity are not merely passive spectators in the New Testament church – it was the laity who first took the gospel into the world from the Jerusalem church, doing the work of evangelists and leading many people to Christ (cp Ac 8:1-4; 11:19-21).

Scriptures plainly teach that any conception of the Christian calling that divides Christians into two classes is totally unscriptural. It in no way reflects God's purpose for the church. God wants every believer to be able to minister His word to others, and to fulfil God's purpose, Christ has given certain ministry gifts to the church. These ministry gifts were all embodied in Christ Himself and He gave them to the church as an extension of His own earthly ministry to prepare and equip the church for God's service (cp Eph 4:11-12).

We need to study these ministry gifts very carefully in order to understand them, because there is a great deal of confusion surrounding them in the contemporary church. Most Christians in the contemporary church believe that Eph 4:11 refers to five orders of ministers in the church appointed to discharge five different kinds of duties - generally known in the church as the "fivefold ministry". But that is not what scriptures teach, as we shall soon see. These gifts can overlap each other in one man. There are a number of men in the New Testament who functioned in them all, and the same applies in the contemporary church. Let us now study them.