Marriage and the Bible - Part 34 - Paul's Image of Christ and His Bride

As we switch to Paul one thing seems to stand above everything else in Paul's understanding of marriage. That being that ultimately marriage is supposed to be a reflection of some thing higher: Christ and His Church. The best place to see this is Ephesians 5:22-33 as not only is the imagery of Christ and his bride used it is practically applied to the marriage between a man and woman in this world.

Paul's presents marriage as something that is supposed to be a witness of what the relationship between Christ and his bride is. In other words, the way we live our married lives as Christians is supposed to be a reflection of the relationship that is also supposed to exist in Christ's marriage to his bride the church.

Christ is the groom and in ancient eastern societies that meant the center of attention. In our culture, the bride is the center of attention but not in the east, the groom takes center stage. In addition, husbands are reminded to act like Christ does toward his bride. Love being the centerpiece word. Self sacrificing for her, cherishing her, to love his wife like himself as his own body. Christ is to be reflected by the man in marriage.

The Church is the Bride and in eastern societies the issue for women was humbleness before their husband and that leads to a couple words: respect and obedience. Now it must be noted that neither of these things can be forced on a woman, she must choose to do them for her to fulfill this. So a man thumping his chest and telling his wife to obey is a waste and violates the image of Christ a man is supposed to uphold. The real issue for women is that they are to act toward their husbands the way the church is supposed to act toward Christ. The church is supposed to respect and obey Christ. Both are choices a woman must make based on how committed she is to her marriage, husband and ultimately Christ.

Colossians 3:18-19 hits the same practical advice but without the detailed imagery and it is shorter and to the point.

Now, this does have some impact of the issue of marriage and it is not small. In a very real way Paul is basing this on Jesus' one flesh teaching and that means the idea of Jesus leaving his bride or the bride leaving Christ does not compute with Paul although we will see later he does have some views on divorce that seem to contradict Jesus.

Some have stated that this puts an end to polygamy. Not really, 1) it does not directly say that and 2) if Jesus has other peoples on other worlds that he has redeemed or vindicated, would those peoples be other brides or all part of the same one? Sorry, at that point we can only speculate. We need to also remember this is analogy and all analogies break down at some point or another including ones from the Bible.

Next: Paul on Divorce and Polygamy

Theology for Dummies - Philosophical Theology

Wikipedia: "Philosophical Theology is the disciplined employment of philosophical methods in developing or analyzing theological concepts."

While it is argued when this discipline appeared, there can be no doubt as to its purpose: take any theological concept and trace how it developed and ask the questions: "Is it philosophically sound?"; "Does that theology make sense; is it logical?"; "Does it line up with how we understand the world and God?", etc. Take any theological idea and take the questions philosophers ask and ask them to analyze that theological idea. That is the aim and purpose of philosophical theology

I really got into philosophical theology in seminary. There are certain disciplines of Christianity like apologetics (defending the faith) and issues like the problem of evil that require some philosophy in them.

Before I go further, I know a lot of Christians like to quote Paul from Colossians 2:8. But in all cases, the point is not against philosophy in and of itself but against 'vain' or 'empty' philosophy. It might be said the philosophical theology is how you tell the difference between 'vain' philosophy and solid philosophy.

In any case, no one can escape using philosophical theology from time to time. We are always as Christians checking to see if our doctrines are sound. We all ask of the Bible and what we believe: Does this make sense? We all use logic and reason as we approach Scripture and that makes use in a limited sense philosophical theologians.

Philosophical Theology proper though will take any doctrine or theological concept and put it through the wringer and see if it holds up. Probably the most famous is Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason where he argued that the old doctrines of revelation must give way to the new because of new theories on knowledge.

For myself I find that philosophy can be a good way to test a theological idea to see if it is sound. Logic does have its place as we analyze the Scriptures. Where it can fail is that if the Bible says: "A is true, but philosophical theology says 'A is not true' you still have to side with the Bible and say 'A is true'. You just may have to think real hard to get it to make sense or come at it from a different angle of thinking that satisfies the philosophical objections to 'A' being true.

Next: Natural Theology

"You Shouldn't Do That!" -- Why Religous Control Has To Go.

Colossians 2:20-23: If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

I was having and discussion with my son some time ago about his comparative religions class and he remarked that his professor had said that he felt religions were created for weak people so they could have power over others. I have to agree.

I really have no love of religion. That is a system by which people are told to do certain things or conform to certain behaviors to gain a spiritual level. In such systems you will see people who in all the rest of their life cannot achieve anything but who rule in the religious structure of --'don't taste that, don't touch that, don't handle that'.

In Christianity, there is the type of spirit people can develop where they see it as their sacred duty to inform the rest of us what behaviors and issues we are avoid and how we should think about them. "Don't watch that it is bad for you." "Don't read that it will corrupt your mind" "Don't send you kids to public school -- it could ruin their faith." etc. etc. ad nausium.

First of all, if my faith cannot stand up to something out there in the world, then my faith isn't worth much is it.

Secondly, where in the world do we read in the Bible that our struggle with our own sin is external. The external can tempt us but the real struggle is not out there is it. I takes place in our own hearts and minds.

Now I am not saying we can just do as we like but that the struggle we have with sin is as individual as the person and no universal rule about 'taste not, touch not, handle not' is going to stop a persons thoughts and meditations of heart.

Take the Pharisees as an example -- outwardly -- perfect in every outward behavior. Inwardly ---corrupt and unrighteous. Think about it.

Thirdly, the same spirit that thinks externals are where it is at it the same one that wants to make others conform to that behavior. Manipulation and control of others follows.

Probably the most common place to find this is in parenting -- I have watched well meaning parents force kids to church, memorize Scripture as punishment and censor their kids from certain activities, programs and books. The result universally -- when they turn 18 -- see ya! I don't want to have anything with God or religion -- time to party -- and the first thing they do is embrace all the things they couldn't do at home. The Bible -- "I was punished with it so I am going to avoid it because it is like a belt on the backside to me"

My point, no amount of external control will change the heart and until you work on a child's heart you will not see them change. Until you can get a child to be genuinely transformed by Christ, you are only delaying the inevitable by external control. Or worse, creating someone who can look good on the outside but inwardly and when they are in private is a sinner extreme.

If you want to change children you have to love them like Christ loved you -- that mean forgiveness and a lot of trust even when they don't deserve it or you think they are in the wrong. Love is a tough thing both ways.

This is none of many examples I can give but the end result is you cannot control someone to salvation.

A Definition of Idolatry

Colossians 3:5: Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to
idolatry.

If we are going to define idolatry in the present age we must turn to this verse. What Paul points out is that idolatry is more than bowing down to an idol of stone, metal or wood. It is the force behind the idol that is the real object of worship and all of these forces are forces of the human flesh.

1. Immorality -- behavior that conflicts with God's expectations
2. Impurity -- mixed with the world attitudes and behaviors --lewd.
3. Passion (lust) -- the desire to possess another's sexuality
4. Evil Desire -- any desire out of line with God's commandments
5. Greed -- Desire for money at the expense of another person.

In short, idolatry is what happens when we fail to love God and our neighbor. So when your looking at the commandment not to make idols -- you might want to look at it a different way.