Indulge me, if you would, in a Christological reading of Genesis 2:
The Lord God said, “It is not good that the [Christ] should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” . . . So the Lord God caused a deep sleep [like death] to fall upon the man, and [he pierced his side and] took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into [the church] and brought her to the [Christ]. . . . Therefore [the Christ] shall . . . hold fast to his [church], and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18–24)
Of course, that’s not yet how Genesis 2 reads. But Paul does quote from Genesis 2 in Ephesians 5, then says, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32).
The mystery of marriage remained an enigma for thousands of years. Why did God design the world and us with male and female so basic and central? Now, with the coming of Jesus and the making of his church, that mystery has been revealed. Temporal marriage is patterned on God’s eternal plan to make a bride for his Son, bring her to him, and make them one.
Elsewhere, the church is Christ’s body, his flock, God’s temple, branches of the vine, and more. But of them all, none is more profound than his bride.
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