Is the Church the bride of Christ?

If ya don't know . . . I recommend reading some scripture . . .

Why would you take the words of men over the Word of God?

 

Here are all the verses that deal with a bride:

Joh 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

 

Here are the verses for Bridegroom:

Mat 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Mar 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

Mar 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Luk 5:34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Luk 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

 

If you are looking for a verse that explicitly says the church is the bride of christ or that the body of believers is the bride of christ, forget it, it does not exist.

The church or the body of believers being the bride of christ is a theological deduction just like theological deduction of the trinity, you will not find any explicit verse that says God is God but composed of three persons.

 

Romans 7:4 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

It is clear by this verse that the Church, which is the Body, is the Bride of Christ.

 

TaliOrlando great question. And the answer to your question is no the church is not the bride. The bride will come out of the church. Many in Christendom have missed Scripture on this one. You can see this in both the OT types as well as the NT.

If you are interested in some great resource material that looks indepthly at Scripture PM me.

 

Many mistake all members of a congregation to mean the church collectively. This is not true. The Body of Christ is the true believers, who adhere to and obey the Word of God. These are the true Church, the Body of Christ.

So, the true Church is in fact, the Bride.

 

That is a true statement for today unfortunately.

This however is not an accurate Biblical statement. All true believers are people that have believed in the substitutionary death and shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who died on their behalf a sinner. Those are the true believers.

You are trying works into the mix and that is an impossibility. Not all believers will adhere to and obey the Word of God. The Bible says actually quite the opposite is true.

All true believers make up the body of Christ the church, but not all true believers are obedient and therefore will not be a part of the bride.

Again if all believers are a part of the bride you destroy at least two OT types, which makes the Bible errant as well as destroy NT teachings which teach to the contrary.

Saying that all believers will be a part of the bride places way too many contradictions on Scripture that can not be there.

 

Romans 7:4 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

The Church is the Bride. Disobedient Believers do not lose their place in Christ, they lose rewards, crowns. That is all they lose.

 

No one said they lose their place in Christ. They don't lose their salvation. You are exactly right in that they lose rewards and crowns. Being a part of the bride means you are going to rule and reign with Christ, which means you have to have a crown. If they've lost their crown then they can't rule, and they aren't a part of the bride.

Again if you see the entire church as the bride then you are destroying teaching in both the OT and the NT. The Bible just does not support that every believer is obedient and a race finisher.

If we were all going to be obedient and all going to finish the race then we wouldn't need encouragement to do so, we would just do it. But the Bible is full of commands, admonishments and encouragements to be obedient, to run the race, to finish the race, to strive for the prize, to work out our salvation, to hold fast, to stand firm, to . . . . add in any others.

Those are there because not all are going to do that.

 

One has to have a crown in order to rule? Wow. Someone better get President and Mrs. Bush a crown and a tiara!

 

Can't defend your point result to sarcasm. Typical

We've got to quit looking at Scripture through 21st century eyes and read it the way God wrote it for understanding. President Bush not having a literal crown has NOTHING to do with Scripture, but if you want to believe because President Bush doesn't have a crown then that means a crown in Scripture doesn't mean ruling then so be it.

 

The Word of God speaks of several different crowns.

The Crown of Life James 1:12
The Crown Incorruptible 1 Cor. 9:24-27
The Crown of Rejoicing 1 Thes. 2:19,20
The Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4:5-8
The Crown of Glory 1 Peter 5:2-4


All of these crowns are Spiritual Crowns, promised to the believer in Christ who

Endure temptations (can it be said that those who are giving in to the desires of the flesh enduring temptation?)
Practice self-control (Paul said he beat his body to keep it in subjection)
Win souls
Love His appearing (every true Child of God looks forward to or anxiously awaits His appearing, so this is one crown that the true Child of God will never lose.)
Shepherd others in the ways of the Lord.

It is quite evident that the crown of righteousness is never lost by the true Child of God. So, all who are Christ's will rule and reign with Him.

This is confirmed by Peter when he wrote that we are 'a royal priesthood', and John, to whom it was revealed that we have been made kings and priests.

 

There is no such thing as a "true" child of God. You are either a child of God or you are not. And it is based ONLY on your faith in the works of Christ...NOTHING else or the Bible contradicts Itself and that is impossible.

Now there is a HUGE difference between being a child of God and being an adopted son of God. Not all children will be adopted as sons.

One of the things where people get tripped up is they read a passage of Scripture and automatically make it to speak to all Christians and that is not the case. You have to go back and find out who some of these letters are written to to understand if something is meant for all Christians or not.

Again there are plenty of Scriptures that show us that not all Christians will be a part of the bride. One you can find in the gospel accounts in that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that find it, but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. That is written to believers about believers. That is not a non-believer/believer/eternal salvation statement. It is talking about people that have already settled eternal salvation.