Temple, Body, Bride

An excellent place for beginning any discussion on the church is with a basic Scriptural understanding of what the church is created to be.  Rather than asking, “What kind of church are you?” a better question might be “what kind of church did God create?”  

Three passages from Ephesians give us three different, yet essential, images of the church that serve to develop our understanding of what the church is.

The Temple

Ephesians 2:19-22 – “you are fellow citizens with 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 in the Lord.  (See also 1 Peter 2:4-8)

The Body

Ephesians 4:11-16 – “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

The Bride

Ephesians 5:25-33 – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

• As the temple of Christ, the church is primarily a worshipping community.
• As the body of Christ, the church is primarily a united community.
• As the bride of Christ, the church is primarily a holy community.  

This is what God created.  A worshipping, united, holy community of those that have been purchased by the blood of Jesus to demonstrate His great fame on this earth.  Which is why, Paul can say in Ephesians 3:7-11 that it is through the church that the manifold wisdom of God is put on display.  

While this should be a uniting rallying cry for all local assemblies that wear the name church, it is clear that this is not the “kind” of church that is often sought after.  It is from a faulty understanding of the type of church that Jesus created that we develop faulty and problematic “kinds” of churches in our world.  The hazardous and destructive pull of capitulating to culture looms for any church or church planter that does not understand what it means to embody the beauty of what God created when He designed the church.  We are His temple, His body, and His bride.  May all in our world take notice.