EPHESIANS: The Mysterious Union

EPHESIANS Number 64

Ephesians 5:30-32 (KJV 1900)
30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Our passage concurs with the assertion that what happens to us happens to Christ and what happens to Christ happens to us. In fact, this is a theological tenet central to our understanding of what Jesus did at the cross and by His resurrection.

Jesus is the representative man. Just as Adam represented all people when he chose to sin against God, so in Christ we are re-created, reborn, and made righteous when we choose to believe Him for it.

When Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him.
When Jesus was raised, we who have agreed to be reconciled to God by Him were raised as well.

Here are a couple of the ways the Scriptures make this clear.

Galatians 2:20 (KJV 1900)
20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:6–8 & 11 (KJV 1900)
6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV 1900)
17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Here’s the way our passage puts it in verse 30-32, “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 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. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Do you see it?

We are His body in a very profound way. He cares for us in the same way He cares for Himself. What’s more, and perhaps even more mysterious to us, we are His bride.

In a manner similar to the way husband and wife are one flesh and what happens to one happens to the other, so the Lord Jesus and His bride are one spirit and what happens to one happens to the other.