Copyright ©
2023 Michael A. Brown
When we read carefully through the New
Testament epistles, one of the things that may strike us quite markedly is the
lack of explicit teaching on the theme of covenant, particularly in relation to
Gentile believers. Although the epistle
to the Hebrews does develop this theme, it was addressed to early Jewish
Christians and it deals with covenant mainly from an apologetic point of view,
in order to make clear the inadequacy and failure of the old Mosaic covenant,
and to emphasise the supremacy and finality of Christ as high-priest and
mediator of the new covenant. Apart from
this, the rest of the New Testament epistles do not develop this theme at all.[1]
The apostle Paul was Jewish, he was
thoroughly trained in the Scriptures, and so he was steeped in the knowledge of
the covenants of God with Israel.
Covenantal thinking was foundational and central to his life. However, the paramount need to develop task
theology in his epistles as he addressed developing issues in the many
different fledgling churches of his day, would perhaps help to explain why he
did not give time and space to explicit teaching on the theme of covenant.[2] Nevertheless, with his hebraic mindset, this
theme would never have been far from his mind!
Modern students have traditionally been
taught to approach the interpretation of Paul's epistles through the lens of historical
theological systems which invariably failed to recognise Paul's hebraic
mindset. These theological systems were
developed by Gentile Christian theologians who were strongly influenced in
their own day by inherited Greek philosophical worldviews, perhaps
unconsciously so, and also by replacement theology whose rejection of all
things Jewish caused them to have a blind spot regarding Paul's hebraic
mindset.
However, it is my belief that, even though
Paul wrote his epistles in Greek, yet much of his teaching is pervaded by
hebraic thought. He certainly does occasionally employ hebraisms in his writing
which many Gentile Christian readers today may not readily discern in their
modern translations, and therefore remain unaware of. This suggests that we would do well to study
Paul's epistles from a hebraic perspective, and, furthermore, that doing this
will yield treasures of insight which traditional western theological systems
fail to uncover. In particular, it would
demonstrate how the theme of covenant implicitly pervades some of Paul's
teaching.
Working from such a hebraic perspective,
this chapter suggests how the theme of covenant undergirds the epistle to the
Ephesians, even though it is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in this
epistle. As we all know, the motif of
the bride of Christ is certainly employed by Paul in Ephesians 5:25-33, but traditional
theological understandings have invariably failed to see how he develops the
theme of covenant through this epistle as a whole. The sections below suggest how this theme is
indeed implicit in much of what he teaches.
1. Chosen:
selected from among the many
‘For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to
be holy and blameless in his sight.’ (Eph. 1:4)
As a young man grows into adulthood, his
heart inevitably begins to seek a soulmate for life. So he casts his eye around among all the available
young women, and as he gets to know some of them socially over time, he falls
in love with one in particular. The
young man then seeks to form a deeper relationship with this young woman in the
hope that she will eventually become his bride.
Out of all the females he knows, he chooses this special one. Slowly, slowly, she receives his love and
responds to it. Her heart opens and she
begins to love him too. In some
cultures, this process differs in that the bride is chosen for the young man by
his parents, reflecting the biblical order of God the Father choosing a bride
for his Son.
Although those who hold to reformed
theology like to make much of the words ‘chosen,’ ‘elect’ and ‘predestined’
(see also below), this has often led into a decretive, rigid and clinical concept
of God’s nature, certainly on the part of Calvinists. This has caused many believers to question
and even doubt the truly loving nature of God’s character, consequently leading
to confusion and even divisiveness in the body of Christ. Perhaps therefore it might be more helpful to
view Paul’s use of these terms through the hebraic lens of covenant, and specifically
in the light of the concept of marriage.
The Greek verb eklegomai which is
used in v.4 does not simply mean ‘to choose.’
It literally means ‘to select,’ ‘to make a choice,’ and therefore ‘to
choose out from among,’ implying a specific choice from among many. This is clearly apposite to the concept of
God choosing a bride for his Son. We are
not simply ‘the elect or chosen ones of God.’
In his love, God selected and chose us as a bride for his Son, Jesus Christ. He loved us, and then by grace set into
motion the process whereby he could redeem us and then form us into this bride.
For our part, as we hear the gospel message,
we respond to God’s love shown and demonstrated towards us in Christ. We receive him and we embrace his love, and
we enter into a loving relationship with him.
Our heart then becomes increasingly his as we grow in this mutual love.
‘The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you
because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of
all peoples. But it was because the Lord
loved you…’ (Deut.
7:7-8)
‘We love him because he first loved us.’ (1 John 4:19 AV)
2. Predestined:
planning for the future
‘…predestined according to the plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…’ (Eph. 1:11)
Having chosen his special one, and particularly
when their relationship begins to blossom, the young man then naturally begins
to think, hope and plan for their future together. His intention is to one day marry this
special girl. He wants her to be his,
and so he begins to think and plan accordingly. In his heart, in fact in both of their hearts,
he/they see it as their destiny to be together, so they begin to map out their
future in order to realise this destiny.
In many cultures, the parents are often also involved in this planning.
Although the concept of predestination is
also used in vv.4-5 of God’s loving intention to adopt us as his sons through Christ,
yet this also applies to us as the bride of Christ. A priori, those who are true sons of
God are also the bride of Christ. These
are simply two different motifs applied to the same people.
The Greek verb proorizein used in vv.5,11
means ‘to predetermine,’ or, more literally, ‘to mark out the boundaries of
something beforehand,’ and therefore ‘to appoint’ or ‘to specify.’ So the underlying concepts are those of
expressing intent and of drawing up specific plans about something. It is to map out a planned intention for the
future. Just as with the verb eklegomai
above, this verb proorizein sits well with the covenantal concept of
marriage. God plans and maps out his desired
intention for the bride he has chosen for his Son, and then he follows this up
by redeeming her and bringing her into covenant relationship with Christ.
I do not believe that more needs to be
made of this word ‘predestine.’ It
simply expresses the fact that God plans his intention beforehand, and then works
to bring about the fulfilment of this intention. The word is also used in Romans 8:29 ‘For
those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ Again, its usage here simply expresses the fact
that, in his love, God plans and maps out beforehand a glorious eternal destiny
for those he has chosen and who receive his Son.
3.
Redeemed: the bride-price has been
paid
‘In him we
have redemption through his blood.’ (Eph. 1:7)
In many ancient cultures, and still even
today in some present-day cultures, it was the tradition for the
bridegroom-to-be to pay a sum of money to the bride’s father. This was called the bride-price. So he effectively buys his bride from her
family. Because his heart is fixed on
her, he is willing to wait even a long time in order to save up enough money to
get her and make her his own. Upon
payment of this bride-price, an agreement is made between the two families regarding
the relationship between the two young people.
She then belongs to the bridegroom, and she will become a new member of
his family.
Jesus paid the bride-price to set us free
from our sin and to make us his bride. He
was willing to do whatever was needed, to pay the full price that was necessary
in order that we might become his. So in
his love, he gave himself up for us (Eph. 5:25). He redeemed us by his blood, and we now
belong to him. We are his possession, and
we become a member of his heavenly family.
He did not redeem us with silver or gold, but with himself. He shed his own blood and gave his own life,
that we might become his. When we
receive what he did for us, then we enter into a new covenant relationship with
him.
‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ…’ (1 Peter 1:18-19)
‘…until
the redemption of those who are God’s possession.’ (Eph. 1:14)
‘You are
not your own; you were bought at a price.’ (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
4.
Sealed: engaged to Christ
‘Having believed
you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…’ (Eph. 1:13-14)
The engagement of two young adults, male
and female, is always a significant event. Although in the West it is often seen simply
as affirmation of their desire to get married, in many other cultures it carries
far more significance. More than simply
the joining of two young adults, it is seen as the joining of their two families
and even as the creation of a new and much broader social network between their
two extended families. This is why the
breaking off of an engagement can bring so much stress and shame to a family,
because it affects so many other people.
Seen in this way, engagement is the
significant step in the development of a relationship, even more so in some
ways than the marriage ceremony itself.
This step is taken with the knowledge and agreement of both sets of
parents, and it is sealed through the giving of a ring to the bride which she
then wears openly. This ring is an
ever-present reminder of the love and covenant commitment the couple have made
with each other. She is his, and he is hers. Engagement is viewed by everyone concerned as
full intention to marry. The young man and
the young woman are then marked out socially as belonging to each other, and the
whole of their respective extended families recognise and affirm this openly. So the marriage later on is now
guaranteed. Although the young couple
have not yet been through their wedding ceremony and given their vows to one another,
nor received their actual wedding certificate, yet the social joining of the
couple has been accomplished and it is already considered a done deal. The later wedding ceremony simply puts the
icing on the cake, as it were, and then the couple may live together.
Seen in this light, engagement in western
cultures has lost much of its significance.
It is too often approached more in a ‘let me try you on and see if you fit’
kind of way, or simply as a trial marriage which can then be broken off if
either partner no longer wants it. So it
has lost the kind of deeper meaning and significance described above which it
still holds in many non-western cultures.
Having received Christ and become believers,
we have entered into a covenant relationship with him. This living relationship is empowered by the
Holy Spirit who indwells us. Two words
are used in Ephesians 1:13-14 to describe the Holy Spirit: ‘seal’ and ‘deposit.’
Firstly, the Greek verb shpragizein
meant to stamp with a signet or private mark as a seal of ownership. So we have
been sealed in Christ, or ‘marked in him with a seal.’ In a similar way, sheep farmers today mark
their sheep with coloured dye to distinguish them from those of neighbouring
farmers which have a different colour. Hence,
the Holy Spirit’s presence within us marks us out as belonging to Christ. We are his possession.
Secondly, the Greek word arrhabon is
often rendered as ‘a deposit,’ i.e. a down payment which guarantees completion of
the payment at a later date. It was part
of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest. So the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life
is God’s way of confirming to us that ‘the rest of your inheritance is now
guaranteed to come your way at a later stage.’ It is proof in the present of what is to come later
in the future. Therefore, our inheritance
in Christ is securely guaranteed!
However, a related form of this word was used
in everyday life to mean ‘an engagement ring.’
So the Holy Spirit is also our engagement ring, given to us as a promise
and guarantee of the wedding to come. Therefore,
we are now engaged to Christ, and we belong to him. We are his bride-to-be.
5.
Made known: the bride is revealed
‘His
intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be
made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his
eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Eph. 3:10-11)
After the bride-price has been paid and
the agreement has been made between the two families, the next step is to
announce and make known the good news to everyone that the couple are engaged. That the young man now has a fiancée, that
she has a fiancé, and that they are now joined together. There is now a new bride-to-be in town! So people get to know: the family members,
the relatives, and the wider social circle.
Everyone talks, and soon the whole town has heard the good news.
When the new church community came into
being, a new entity which had never existed in this world before, the bride of
Christ, came into being. The Father’s
purpose of creating a bride for his Son became known openly. So the bride of Christ was revealed and
declared to the world, and in particular to the spiritual rulers and authorities
in the heavenly realms.
The bride gradually learns to walk in the
self-confidence of her new identity in Christ and to live openly as his
bride. When the devil tries to attack or
discourage her, she can lift up her voice boldly and tell him where to go. She is not afraid to let him know that she
knows exactly who she is in God’s sight!
Although in the present time the bride is very imperfect, yet she carries
the name and presence of her Beloved.
She is identified everywhere and by everyone in this world as belonging
to him. We live in this world in the
present age in our distinct identity as the bride of Christ.
6. Living
differently: openly honouring our relationship with our Beloved
‘So I tell
you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles
do, in the futility of their thinking.’ (Eph. 4:17)
Being engaged (and married, of course)
brings a young woman into a new social status.
It re-defines her social relationships, be it in relation to her fiancé,
his family, or her wider social network.
She is expected to behave as someone who is engaged (or married), especially
in public. The ring she wears shows that
the bride-to-be belongs to her fiancé and not to anyone else. She should honour her new relationship with
her beloved and his family, and therefore behave towards other people in a way
which is considered appropriate. Her new
commitment is to her beloved, and this commitment now defines her life. She is expected to be pure and faithful. To dishonour her fiancé and his family is to
bring shame on herself, on him and on them.
In many cultures, this is met with a stern response, separation or even
worse.
The apostle Paul insists that as believers
we should honour our relationship with Christ openly in the way we live and in
how we relate to others. In Christ, we
have a new social identity, and we are bearers of his name. We are engaged to him as his bride-to-be. So the Lord expects and insists that we walk
according to this new identity, and therefore live before others as Christians
ought to live. Our faith should be
reflected in the way we live. We should
not bring shame on the name of Christ by the way we live or behave. This is Paul’s underlying thinking in many of
the practical exhortations in his epistles, particularly in regard to sexual morality. We need to repent thoroughly from old
patterns of sinful behaviour and move on from some of our old associations.
It is clear from Paul’s two epistles to
the Corinthians that the believers in Corinth were experiencing the operation
of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit in their meetings, and Paul related
this to the functioning of the body of Christ.
However, the fact that there was so much ongoing disorder amongst them
shows that they still had little or no understanding of what it meant to live
practically as the bride of Christ. Paul
rebuked them strongly over this! (1 Cor. chs.12,14; 2 Cor. 11:2-3, 12:20-21).
‘I
promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure
virgin to him.’ (2
Cor. 11:2)
7.
The bride of Christ: deep inward
spiritual union with our Beloved
‘“For this
reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the
two will become one flesh.” This is a
mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.’ (Eph. 5:31-32)
The aim and culmination of engagement is
the covenant of marriage. In this covenant,
affirmed openly and publicly by the mutual giving of vows, the young man and
woman give themselves completely to each other, as fully as two people can do. The mutual giving of vows implies God’s
intention in the inseparability of this union.
This inseparable giving over of oneself to the other means that marriage
is not a contract which can be torn up, and neither should it be conceived of
in terms of ‘easy come easy go’ cohabitation.
No, it is a covenant, and this is the only way in which marriage can be
fully understood and experienced as God intended. The image of God in humankind is found most
fully in the binding together of male and female in the covenant of marriage,
and only in this way.
The union between male and female, becoming
‘one flesh,’ does not simply imply intimate physical union, it is also a union
of two spirits, two hearts and two minds.
Through their mutual love, the two partners are bound together in
spiritual union at the deepest level within themselves, and in every other way
too. The Hebrew word dabaq used in Genesis 2:24 / Ephesians 5:31 of
being ‘united’ literally means ‘to be glued together.’ So the two partners become one. Although they outwardly remain two people,
yet they have become one through their deep inward union. Over time, of course, this leads to the two
partners knowing each other and being known by each other in every possible
way. Furthermore, this binding together
in union of male and female as ‘one flesh’ is the beginning of the creation of
a new social unit, a family. The intimacy
of this union then produces fruit as children are conceived and born.
In Ephesians 5:25-32, we find the heart of
what it means to be the bride of Christ.
The model of the husband-wife covenant relationship in creation is given
to us to illustrate God’s intention in the relationship between Christ and the
church. In the same way that there is a
deep inward spiritual bond between husband and wife, as believers we are bound
intimately together with our Beloved deep within our spirit through his Spirit
who dwells within us. We are united with
Christ, and we have become one with him: we are in Christ, and Christ is in
us. And again, just as with husband and
wife, this gives us our essential identity as a Christian: we are the bride of
Christ.
God expects us to live in the light of
this identity. He is our Head, just as
the husband is the head of the wife. In
his deep love for us, he gives himself utterly for us: he cares for us,
provides for us, and nourishes us faithfully. In response, through our growing love for him,
we freely submit to and follow him. Our
heart’s desire is for him. As the
traditional marriage vow says: we love, honour and obey him. We are his and we belong to him, so we wash
ourself daily with the water of his word, keeping ourself pure and holy, separated
unto him. As with any loving bride, we want
Christ our divine husband to be pleased with us, so we endeavour to remain
without stain or blemish. We seek to do
what pleases him, because we want him to be happy with us (Eph. 5:10). And we also try to keep ourself looking
radiant for him, or, as the underlying Greek says, looking gorgeous for him,
with the radiance of the Holy Spirit’s presence shining through us.
‘For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made
herself ready.’
(Rev. 19:7)
‘I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you…
and you became mine.’
(Ezek. 16:8 ESV)
‘But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in
spirit.’ (1 Cor.
6:17)
‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ (Heb. 13:5)
8.
Undying love: living happily ever
after
‘Grace to
all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.’ (Eph. 6:24)
A couple whose hearts are bound in union
together, and who therefore truly love each other, are a happy couple. They seek daily to be with one another, because
they love and enjoy each other. Although
their love may not be perfect, yet it grows by walking together through all the
varying situations and challenges of life.
As the years go by, and as they experience more of their love for one
another, their mutual love deepens and matures, and they become secure in it.
Similarly, God’s intention in Christ is
for us to become increasingly bound with him deep within ourself, and therefore
to experience and to live consistently in the intimacy of his deep love for us. It is for us to enjoy living daily in our
love relationship with him throughout our life, and to be free and happy as believers. The Christian life, lived in the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit, is never boring, because it is a relationship with Christ
rooted in genuine mutual daily love.
We grow deeper in God’s love as we see it
displayed in the way he provides for us and sees us through the challenges of
life. We have the assurance that if God
gave up his own Son for us, then he will certainly give us all we need in life
(Rom. 8:32). The repeated use of the word 'never' in Hebrews 13:5 (above) suggests that the words of this verse are more akin to a vow than simply being a promise. God will always meet our needs, because he will remain unchangeably faithful to the word he has given; he cannot deny himself. So we should resolve to go
through such challenges by walking together with the Lord, holding his hand
throughout. And just as with any married
couple, when we have come through such challenges in life, we will find that we
have grown closer to Christ, and our relationship with him will have become deeper.
God’s first and foremost desire for us is that
we walk in the enjoyment of his love, not simply that we work for him. Everything we do ought to come out of our
love for him. We obey him, because we
love him. We seek to do what pleases
him, because we love him. To be blossoming,
growing and maturing in our relationship with God is to be growing in love,
both for him and for one another.
‘Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ (Deut. 6:5)
‘And I
pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with
all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of
Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled
to the measure of all the fulness of God.’ (Eph. 3:17-19)
‘If anyone
loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ (John 14:23)
‘God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God
in him. In this way, love is made
complete among us…’
(1 John 4:16-17)
Copyright
Notice
THE HOLY
BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by
Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights
reserved worldwide.
Scripture
quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version
in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown.
Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University
Press.
English
Standard Version (ESV) – Copyright © 2001 Crossway Bibles, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. All
rights reserved.
[1]
Apart from the epistle to the Hebrews, in the apostle Paul's writings the only
explicit references to covenant are in Romans 11:27 and Galatians 3:15,17. However, in none of these passages does he
develop the theme.
[2]
The phrase 'task theology' refers to the application of theological truth to
practical issues in the life of individuals and church life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.