Bride of Christ

Are you sure?

I fail to understand your logic here, nor do I see where this passage supports your view.

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, (to the commonwealth of Israel) .........

but you are fellow citizenswith the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ..............Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, .....

in whom .........the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple (THE CHURCH) in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.


I just don't see it the way you are saying.

 

Are you sure?

I fail to understand your logic here, nor do I see where this passage supports your view.

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, (to the commonwealth of Israel) .........

but you are fellow citizenswith the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ..............Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, .....

in whom .........the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple (THE CHURCH) in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.


I just don't see it the way you are saying.

 

The passage that you gave is all present tense. It is saying that now the door is open to all and not veiled. It is not a passage about the distinguishing differences between the church and the OT saints place in the kingdom or how they will function differently. While we as gentiles are now fellow citizens we have a different place in function just like the woman is equal in Christ as the man but she has a different role in the body.
Also I am not sure what translation you are using to read as you have posted, but in looking at the Greek i do not find some of the wording you gave and that may make a difference in how we are seeing this.

 

We agree here

Its saying that those that once strangers and aliens..the Gentiles.
are now allowed to be part of the ..commonwealth of Israel... fellow citizens with the saints of the OT and members of the SAME household of God.

This again is talking about the church. There is no more divide. It is all one..."in Christ".

That's just it. That is the point...they DO NOT function differently....do they? Again..this is present tense...(see above)

Paul goes overboard calling the Jews and the gentiles ONE GROUP and calls that group THE CHURCH.

That is really something hard to deny. I see you are from Texas. Is there any chance you are following Dallas Theological school here? I like DTS, but they are dead wrong on this one.

I believe that was the ESV. But all are about the same on this.

You may have read my words that were marked in parentheses as if they were Scripture. That was not my intent and the reason why I played my words in parentheses.

sorry to mislead.

James

 

Good grief. What do "members" and "visible" have to do with anything?

The sheep and the goats.
The saved and the lost.

et cetera.

This ain't rocket science. The "Bride of Christ" includes those who belong to HIm. Not even sure why this is a legitimate question...

 

Ok, I agree. The universal church is all believers in Christ and the true church is spiritual not physical. It isn't a denomination or any specific group we know of today.

 

If that's the case, then we must explain away Paul's comments in Acts 20:28. He is speaking to the elders from the church at Ephesus, whom he described as overseers to the Ephesian church, which Jesus purchased with his own blood. Sounds like a physical entity to me.

This same Paul, writing to the Corinthians (a local congregation) described that assembly in I Cor 12:27 "Now YOU are THE body of Christ...." Sounds like a physical entity to me.

 

Nowhere in the bible does it say that the bride is the church. This is a teaching that most believe based on a tradition that was started by the Catholic church. In Revelation 21 the bride is identified as the New Jerusalem. Therefore the bride has to be the city New Jerusalem. God's people are the friends and the guests to the wedding of the Lamb.

 

Does the Bride of Christ include the Wife of Jehovah (which IMO is redeemed Israel)?

Well all those born again ones will eventually live in New Jerusalem.

HankD

 

All the verses that mention wife, bride, married, etc, are only metaphors to show the relationship God has with us. That in itself does not make Israel or the church the Bride of Christ. Revelation 21 identifies the bride with the New Jerusalem. Therefore, the new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. Israel and the church are the guests/friends of the wedding.

 

Is this yours or anothers view Felipe?

HankD

 

Mine and others.