October 21, the mystery of marriage.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 531 to 32. Here, Ephesians 5 31 to 32.

Here in Ephesians 531, Paul is quoting Genesis 224, which Moses spoke, and Jesus said God spoke through Moses, Matthew 195.

A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

Paul says, this word of God, spoken before the fall into sin, is a reference to Christ and the

church and contains therefore a great mystery. What this implies is that when God engaged to create man and woman

and to ordain the union of marriage,

he didn't roll the dice or draw straws or flip a coin

as to how they might be related to each other.

He patterned marriage very purposefully

after the relationship between his son and the church

which he had planned from all eternity.

Therefore, marriage is a mystery.

It contains and conceals a meaning far greater than what we see on the outside.

God created man male and female and ordained marriage so that the eternal covenant relationship between Christ and his church would be imaged forth in the marriage

union. The inference Paul draws from this mystery is that the roles of husband and wife

in marriage are not arbitrarily assigned, but are rooted in the distinctive

roles of Christ and His Church. Those of us who are married need to ponder again and again

how mysterious and wonderful it is that God grants us in marriage the privilege to image

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