Two weeks ago we talked about one aspect of the mystery of Christ from

Ephesians chapter two and especially chapter three verse four namely the truth that the mystery of Christ is that not only believing Jews but also

Gentiles are full fellow citizens of the new true Israel, the body of Christ.

So it's not just Jews, it's Jews and Gentiles who make up the true Israel, who is the body of Christ.

That was what we saw was the mystery of Christ two weeks ago.

Now today in this text we get a new angle on this mystery of Christ and his body and let me

sum up what it is ahead of time and then move back into the text and unpack it for you.

The new angle on the mystery of Christ today is this.

The meaning of human marriage is based on a greater marriage designed in heaven

before creation, namely the marriage between Christ and his church.

That's a mystery.

The meaning of human marriage, which I'm not going to talk about today,

is based on another marriage designed in heaven before creation, namely the marriage

between the son of God and his people, the church.

And on that design and model, human marriage was built to image it forth.

Look at verse 28, I'll show you where I get this idea.

Husbands ought to love their wives. I'll show you where I get this idea.

Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his own wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and

cherishes it. Just as Christ also does the church because we are members of his body. Now what Paul says here is

that husbands loving their own wives is like loving themselves because she is part

of his body. And Christ's loving the church is loving himself because the church is him, his body.

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