A devotional meditation on the parallels between Adam and Eve as the first marriage and Christ and the Church. Is the Church a helper fit for Jesus? How is this possible?
Introduction
Peter has been talking about various understandings of the church and last week he spoke about the church as the bride of Christ. Peter asked me to add something to what he has already said because several years ago I wrote something about the church as the bride of Christ and it comes from a different angle to what Peter said last week. The general idea is expressed in the title of this message which is somewhat longer than usual: “A devotional meditation on the parallels between Adam and Eve as the first marriage and Christ and the Church. Is the Church a helper fit for Jesus? How is this possible?”
Let’s begin with reading the account of the first marriage in Genesis 2:20-25.
Genesis 2:20-25
So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.”
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.
A mystery
Marriage represents the mystery of Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32). Remember a mystery is not something which we cannot understand but rather something which was hidden but has been revealed in the present age. This meditation is to explore the parallels between Adam and Eve and Christ and the Church. Adam was given Eve as a helper fit for him. It would be expected that the Church must be a helper fit for Jesus. Is this the case and, if so, then how is this accomplished?
Priority of the Jesus over creation
When we think about this mystery of marriage representing Christ and the Church we need to see this reality the correct way around. Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation and all creation was made by him and through him (Col 1:15-17). That is, he has the priority over creation. Adam and Eve appeared first in history but Jesus existed as Word before the creation and before time. It was always God’s intention to provide the Son with a bride. So while Adam and Eve are the picture of Christ and the church, Christ and the church have theological priority. To put this another way: God did not adopt marriage as a convenient metaphor but marriage exists because its task was always to represent the fuller reality which would later be revealed.
Parallels
Now I am going to go through the parallels between the Genesis account and Christ and the Church.
1) Eve was formed from Adam’s rib while he was asleep
The first thing that can be said is that it was God’s initiative to make a suitable helper for Adam. Adam did not ask for a helper and while God made Eve he was unconscious of the action of God in making her. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the person of the Trinity who took the initiative to give Jesus a bride. Jesus was not conscious of what the Father was doing to provide him with a bride.
When Jesus was on the cross he lost the consciousness of who he was. He cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). In the depths of abandonment Jesus bore the sin of the world to extinction. It was through this action of the Son of God that the salvation of humanity was accomplished. The secret work of the Father in the cross enabled the birth of the Church. Yet this action of the Father was hidden from Jesus even as Adam was unconscious while God made Eve from his rib.
God made Eve from Adam’s side. The side of Jesus was opened and blood and water flowed out (John 19:34). The blood is for the cleansing of sin and the water represents the Spirit who would be poured out on the Church. There would be no church without forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2) The LORD God made a woman
It is interesting that in Hebrew the word which is translated here as ‘made’ or ‘fashioned’ is the word hnb (banah) which is generally translated as ‘built’ or ‘established’. A more literal rendering then would be “The LORD God built a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man.” This is interesting because Jesus said, in Matt 16:18 that he would build his church. What can we conclude from this? That the church is built by God and not by people.
3) Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh
When the woman is brought to Adam he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.” Adam was formed from the dust of the earth (Gen 2:7) but Eve was formed from Adam (Gen 2:22).
Eve was formed out of Adam and, therefore, she was made of the same substance as Adam.
Just as Eve was made from the same substance as Adam, the Church is of the same substance as Christ. Let me explain this piece by piece. Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3). This is not the same thing as saying that Jesus was a sinner. We would agree that he did not sin at all (Heb 4:15). Being made in the likeness of sinful flesh means that, in order to redeem humanity, Jesus had to take on the same kind of flesh as sinful human beings. When Adam was formed out of the dirt he was nothing other than dirt until God breathed life into him and he became a living being. Although Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful flesh that flesh became the image of God (Col 1:15) by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful flesh but the Church is made in the likeness of Christ (Rom 8:29). Jesus had to be formed as a man before the Church could be formed as his bride. Jesus, the Son of God, became a human being and we understand that he is the God-man. When Jesus was resurrected from the dead he ascended to the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). He is still a human being and remains so for eternity but he is now an exalted human being (Phil 2:9-11: this refers to the exaltation of the human Jesus; he was already exalted as God). The Trinity is now different to before because God knows what it is to be a human being. Humanity has been taken into God. Because of this we will share in his divine nature (2Pet 1:4).
The body of Christ is not made of sinful flesh any more but a glorified body radiating the glory of God. It is this glorified body that the Church is formed from, not from sinful flesh (Rom 8:9 – the Church is not in the flesh but in the Spirit). The Church is formed from the new humanity which has come into being through Christ (2Cor 5:17).
Without the incarnation, cross and resurrection there could be no helper fit for the Son of God. All that existed was sinful flesh. Sinful flesh cannot be fully the image of God just as dirt could not be the image of God. Jesus has become the fullness of the image and glory of God. He has, by his suffering, made the Church “holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Col 1:22). This was necessary because Jesus cannot have a bride except the one in his own likeness (1 Cor 15:49).
Lastly, Adam received his life from the breath of God. Eve derived her life from Adam. Jesus derived his life from the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). The Church derives its life from Christ (Col 3:4). God the Father gave life to Jesus by filling him with the Spirit. However, the Father does not give the Spirit to the Church, Jesus does (John 20:21-23: Acts 2:33). The Church has the divine nature and enters into the divine life. Without this the Church cannot be a helper fit for Jesus.
4) A man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife and the two will become one flesh.
The man Jesus lost his earthly father to death sometime in his life. This is the accepted assumption because of the lack of reference to Joseph after Jesus childhood and because Jesus passed his responsibility as eldest son to John while on the cross (John 19:26,27). He left his mother at the time of his death. He gave up his responsibility to care for his mother because he was dying. This event of the cross is the time of Jesus leaving his father and mother and uniting to his wife. Even before the cross he had begun to cut the ties with his family (Matthew 12:46-50).
On the part of the Church she must forsake all former ties and give complete priority to the relationship to the bridegroom Jesus. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). This is the principle of forsaking all others as traditional marriage vows reflect. The Church cannot have divided loyalties. Jesus must be her first love.
Adam and Eve became one flesh. The Church too is one with Christ (John 17 20ff). Christ is in her and she is in him (John 15:4). Jesus has given the Church his glory (John 17:22) and glory came to Jesus through the Church (John 17:10). There is a mutuality in the relationship.
5) They were naked and not ashamed
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers (Heb 2:11). He is not ashamed of the church. The church must not be ashamed of Jesus. If anyone confesses his name before men he will confess his/her name before the Father. If anyone is ashamed of the Son then the Son will not confess his/her name before the Father (Matt 10:32f).
Conclusion – Is the Church a helper fit for Christ?
In conclusion I turn back to the original question: “Is the Church a helper fit for Christ?” In the death of Christ, the Father has done all that must be done to provide Jesus with a bride. The bride has been made out of the new glorified humanity of which Jesus is the firstfruits. The bride shares the life of Christ. Therefore it can be concluded that the Church is and will be a helper fit for Jesus. The complete transformation of the bride into the likeness of Christ is not complete but the day will come when she will be transformed as she meets him face to face.
Some implications
- Paul wrote, “I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2). It is important to remember that we are not made of sinful flesh but we are of the substance of Christ – holy and spiritual. So we must act like what we are.
- The bride of Christ is not an individual but a body of people. We need to think in terms of being responsible for the holiness of one another, not merely of ourselves.