(In order to follow this post please go through part 8 of the Salvation Series - http://stillsilentwhispers.blogspot.com/2015/11/salvation-series-i-part-8-operation-of.html - )
Eph 5:25-32
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery:but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
We often read the scripture above at weddings but do we truly know what it means? I have highlighted a few of the points that I think truly signifies the point that Paul was trying to get across here. The scripture gives a vivid description of what a marriage is. This is paralleled with the words Moses used in response to the words of Adam when he wrote Genesis 2.
Gen 2:23-24
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:and they shall be one flesh.
Eve was the literal flesh and bone of Adam. God had formed her from a rib he had taken from him and fashioned her with his flesh. Let us not forget our foundation principles (see Salvation Series pt 1).
Adam was made a triune being - meaning he was made of 3 parts: body, soul and spirit. It was the soul and spirit (inner-man) that was placed in a body in order to be given expression. Well the same went for Eve. She was also 3 in 1. However her body was not taken from the dust as Adam's was, it was directly taken from Adam. Therefore the body her inner-man dwelt in, was not her own body but it was literally Adam's flesh and bones.
Therefore when one is married, two souls/spirits are given one flesh.
I want to put this sidebar that we see God's intent for marriage. Moses, said clearly Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:and they shall be one flesh. Marriage is between a male and a female. Our Father is also very sensitive about marriage, because it is in it that the mystery of the Church is revealed. Sins such as homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and masturbation do despite to God's establishment of marriage.
If you are found in any of these, do not be dismayed. The grace of God is able to bring you to a place of repentance. Judge therefore whether you have the Holy Spirit that you may be delivered from these sins, if you already do, you have the power to simply stop. When you do, God will wipe away all His memory of your sins and accept you as a father accepts a son.
THE MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE REVEALED
Rom 7:1-4
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
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.
First of all, let me point out here that this scripture is not teaching a principle of marriage for the Church. Paul is merely, stating how marriage was in the law. This is not God's commandment to the church. There may be some cases when it is lawful to allow someone to depart a marriage.
1Co 7:15-16
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases:but God hath called us to peace. 16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
Refocusing on Romans 7. The scripture begins by detailing that in the law of Moses, a woman is bound to her husband as long as HE is alive. However if the husband dies, the woman is no longer bound to the man, but is loosed from the law of marriage. She can therefore marry another if she desires to. If before her husband dies, she marries another man, she shall be an adulteress. However, the scripture then continues to say that we have become dead to the law, by the body of Christ.
Let us break this down.
Remember we learnt earlier that one is married, when two souls/spirits are given one flesh? In the case of the when the woman under the law, is married to her husband, the two become one flesh. Therefore if marriage causes two souls/spirits to become one flesh, what happens when we are married to Christ?
Rom 7:4
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.
Well my saints it means the same thing. Two souls/spirits must be given one flesh. It therefore means that our soul and the Spirit of Christ share the same flesh. Let us consider the scripture one more time.
Rom 7:4
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the lawby 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 scripture states that we have become dead to the law, by the body of Christ, that we should be married to Christ. We know therefore that the husband that Paul refers to here is an analogy. The husband represents a body and the woman represents a soul.
Now let us consider this scripture, however where we see woman let us put soul and where we see husband let us put body. Let us Parallel the two.
Rom 7:2-4
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
2 For the [soul] which hath (is in) a body is bound to the body so long as the body lives; but if the body dies, the soul is loosed from the body. (James 2:26)
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
3 So then if, while the body lives, the soul is married to (joint to or placed inside of) another body, it is unlawful: but if the body dies, the soul is free from that body; so that it shall be lawful for the soul, though it is married to (placed into) another body.
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.
I hope you are beginning to understand this scripture.
We learnt in the Salvation Series (parts 2&8) that before we received the Holy Ghost we had a body of sin. The body of sin is also called the old man. The flesh itself was sinful and that body (in this case) was under the bondage of the law. However when we received the Holy Ghost, we put off the old man and put on a new man.
PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN
At salvation we had to die, in order to be born again. The wages of sin is death, so God killed us by taking our soul from our body. The removal of the soul from the body at this point is called the putting off of the old man. When we put off the old man the body dies (Rom 6:6)(James 2:26). The old man is the body which we were married to before salvation. It was a body of sin, that the soul had to be freed from in order to be saved. This is the husband that Paul speaks of in Romans 7.
At salvation it is God's intent to take our souls out of the old man and place it into the new man. However if the old man doesn't first die, the soul cannot be placed inside of or be married to the new man. When the old man dies the soul is loosed from it and can be free to be married to the new man.
PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN
After the soul is freed from the old man, it can now be married to the new man. The new man is Jesus inside the flesh. Therefore, the same body we put off (the old man) is sanctified and then Jesus' Spirit enters it. It is at this point that the old man has been made into a new man. This is the body that the soul can now be married to.
Let us not forget that the New Man is Jesus Christ. Therefore, seeing that we put off the old man we can be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. We can be married to the new man.
One is married, when two souls/spirits are given one flesh.
In this case our soul and the Holy Ghost, who is Jesus, are given one flesh to live in. We have the Holy Spirit in our bodies and our souls are in the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Spirit of Christ, as well as our souls, dwell in this flesh.
This is the mystery of marriage revealed.
Our souls are married to Jesus Christ - the new man. Our souls have been placed inside of Jesus' body, just as Eve's soul was placed inside of a Adam's body (a body that was of Adam). We are now bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and our bodies belong to Him.
Now let us read the beginning scripture with understanding.
Eph 5:25-32
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery:but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
The flesh that we have as Sons of God is the literal flesh of Jesus. He is the Word made flesh in us.
I love you.
Apostle Kareem Flowers.
Written on: November 2015