“So husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”                     --Ephesians 5:28-33

If you will notice, I have decided to move on from verses 25-27 to the next grouping of verses. However, the overall topic has not changed. Paul is still talking about the marriage relationship and the command for husbands to love their wives. In verse 25, he commands the husband to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. In verse 28, he tells the husband to love his wife as he loves himself.

Is there any difference between the two? Effectively, no. a man who is loving his wife as he loves himself is loving her as Christ loves the Church. Christ loves the Church as He loves Himself. Paul states this to be the case by pointing out that “we are members of His body.”

This is not the only passage in which Paul says that the Church is the body of Christ. He told us the same thing back in chapter 4 of Ephesians. He repeats the theme in Romans 12, and again in I Corinthians 12. In those passages, it is for the purpose of pointing out that each member of the Church has his/her own purpose and function, and is no more and no less a member than any other, just as is the case within the human body.

Here in Ephesians 5, Paul’s purpose is to draw attention to the unity we have with Christ. Those of you who have been receiving these devotions from the beginning might remember my comments from chapter 1 concerning the phrase “in Christ.” That phrase strongly indicates that we are spiritually united with Christ and He with us in such a manner that the union cannot be broken.

By saying that we are members of Christ’s body, flesh and bones (v. 30), Paul is saying the same thing. We are so united with Him as to be collectively described as His body. And we all know that, apart from experiencing death, a man cannot be separated from his own body.

Now here is an interesting thought I had as I prepared to write this devotion. Perhaps the two most popular analogies used to describe our relationship with Christ are the analogy of marriage and the analogy of the body. It is said that at times the Church is said to be the bride of Christ, and at other times it is said to be the body of Christ. And distinctions between the two analogies may be pointed out.

What I find interesting is that, in this passage, Paul uses both analogies in conjunction to make the same point. By saying in verse 25 that a husband must love his wife as Christ loves the Church, he is using the marriage analogy. Then, continuing his discussion of how a husband must love his wife, Paul states that the Church is the body of Christ.

What are we to gain from this? That to say one is to say the other. I would hate to sound like I am teaching New Age thinking, but for lack of better wording, there exists a mystical union between Christ and the Church. I use the word mystical because this union cannot be fully comprehended by the human mind. And it is hard to describe. All that can truly be said is that we are one with Him, and He with us. By drawing this out, and by referencing Genesis 2:24, Paul is telling us that the same kind of union must exist between husband and wife.