Dispensational Difficulties 2

One verse that is sometimes held up as a difficulty is found in Eph. 5:25; "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it."

Critics of Dispensational Truth who know their Bibles well, have pointed out to me that, in the Greek, this verse reads, "... and gave himself for HER." This, they say, destroys our argument that the Church which is His Body is a new calling, distinct from the church being built up in Acts. And as far as the Church in Ephesians being a man, if the Lord gave Himself for HER, then surely Paul is not talking about something new in Ephesians, but the same church as in Acts, the Bride of Christ. I have even heard it said once or twice that the church is "the Body and Bride of Christ".

Let's clear up that last point first. There is no such term in Scripture as the Bride of Christ. The Scriptural term is the Bride of the Lamb, and while I am well aware that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, I also believe that it does not help our understanding or exposition of Scripture to be inaccurate in the terms and figures of speech from the Bible.

It certainly is true that the Greek of Eph. 5:25 does say that the Lord gave Himself for HER, the church, but this certainly does not mean that the Church which is His Body in Ephesians is a female, even as a figure of speech. The difficulty is of the critic's own making, and the answer lies in the peculiar little twists of language. Any reader who has studied some language other than English will not need a detailed explanation, but if English is your only language, the point may seem a little strange at first.

Let's take the French language as an example. The French words for the table are la table. But the book is le livre. Those little words la and le both mean "the", so why are they different? Simple. Unlike most English nouns, French nouns have gender. They are either feminine or masculine. There is also the neuter gender, but that does not affect us at the moment.

La is the feminine definite article which must be used with a feminine noun, and le is the masculine definite article which must be used with masculine nouns. This means that the two words I used above as examples, table and book, have to be accompanied by the correct forms of the definite article. That is la in the case a table, a feminine noun, and le in the case of book, a masculine word.

Now we come to the part that makes learning any of these languages difficult for English speakers. The rule is that pronouns, adjectives and adverbs must agree in form, that is, in gender, with their noun, which means that a feminine word must have a feminine pronoun. Likewise with a masculine word. So a Frenchman would refer to a table as "her" and a book as "him". Do not imagine, however, that a Frenchman would mistake a table for a woman. The gender refers to the word, not the object.

To translate a French sentence into English correctly, however, a table must be called "it", because in English, table is a neuter word. This is exactly what must be done in Eph. 5:25, and, of course, in many other places in the Scriptures. "Church" in Greek is a feminine word, and rightly has the feminine pronoun "her". But remember, the gender applies to the word, not the object. When, however, we translate from Greek into English, "church" is a neuter word so must be called it, not her.

As I said, this so-called difficulty rests with the critics, and we must remember that Paul definitely tells us that this new Church called the Church which is His Body, is a new man (Eph. 2:15), and its goal is to grow up into a perfect (that is, complete or mature) man (Eph. 4:13). These phrases and words, including the Bride of the Lamb, while being titles, are also something of figures of speech, and as I said earlier, if God does not mix His metaphors, neither should we.

One further comment on this. If the critic's point is right, i.e. that the word "her" for church in the Greek means that the Church of Ephesians is the Bride, then it proves too much. For example, in Eph.1:22, we read that Christ is the Head. Head, in Greek is a feminine word, and if we apply the critic's rule, this would mean that Christ is woman!
Absurd, of course. The same applies to other titles or figures that the Lord used of Himself. The words VINE and DOOR are both feminine words in Greek. Just as it is silly to say that this proves that Christ as the Head, Door or Vine is a female, it is as silly to say that the Greek pronoun "her" in Eph. 5.25 proves that the Church which is His Body is a female.

Dispensational Difficulties Part 1 can be found here.

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		Dispensational Difficulties? Part 2. By Athol Walter One verse that is sometimes held up as a difficulty is found in Eph. 5:25; "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." Critics of Dispensational Truth who know their Bibles well, have pointed out to me that, in the Greek, this verse reads, "... and gave himself for HER." This, they say, destroys our argument that the Church which is His Body is a new calling, distinct from the church being built up in Acts. And as far as the Church in Ephesians being a man, if the Lord gave Himself for HER, then surely Paul is not talking about something new in Ephesians, but the same church as in Acts, the Bride of Christ. I have even heard it said once or twice that the church is "the Body and Bride of Christ". Let's clear up that last point first. There is no such term in Scripture as the Bride of Christ. The Scriptural term is the Bride of the Lamb, and while I am well aware that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, I also believe that it does not help our understanding or exposition of Scripture to be inaccurate in the terms and figures of speech from the Bible. It certainly is true that the Greek of Eph. 5:25 does say that the Lord gave Himself for HER, the church, but this certainly does not mean that the Church which is His Body in Ephesians is a female, even as a figure of speech. The difficulty is of the critic's own making, and the answer lies in the peculiar little twists of language. Any reader who has studied some language other than English will not need a detailed explanation, but if English is your only language, the point may seem a little strange at first. Let's take the French language as an example. The French words for the table are la table. But the book is le livre. Those little words la and le both mean "the", so why are they different? Simple. Unlike most English nouns, French nouns have gender. They are either feminine or masculine. There is also the neuter gender, but that does not affect us at the moment. La is the feminine definite article which must be used with a feminine noun, and le is the masculine definite article which must be used with masculine nouns. This means that the two words I used above as examples, table and book, have to be accompanied by the correct forms of the definite article. That is la in the case a table, a feminine noun, and le in the case of book, a masculine word. Now we come to the part that makes learning any of these languages difficult for English speakers. The rule is that pronouns, adjectives and adverbs must agree in form, that is, in gender, with their noun, which means that a feminine word must have a feminine pronoun. Likewise with a masculine word. So a Frenchman would refer to a table as "her" and a book as "him". Do not imagine, however, that a Frenchman would mistake a table for a woman. The gender refers to the word, not the object. To translate a French sentence into English correctly, however, a table must be called "it", because in English, table is a neuter word. This is exactly what must be done in Eph. 5:25, and, of course, in many other places in the Scriptures. "Church" in Greek is a feminine word, and rightly has the feminine pronoun "her". But remember, the gender applies to the word, not the object. When, however, we translate from Greek into English, "church" is a neuter word so must be called it, not her. As I said, this so-called difficulty rests with the critics, and we must remember that Paul definitely tells us that this new Church called the Church which is His Body, is a new man (Eph. 2:15), and its goal is to grow up into a perfect (that is, complete or mature) man (Eph. 4:13). These phrases and words, including the Bride of the Lamb, while being titles, are also something of figures of speech, and as I said earlier, if God does not mix His metaphors, neither should we. One further comment on this. If the critic's point is right, i.e. that the word "her" for church in the Greek means that the Church of Ephesians is the Bride, then it proves too much. For example, in Eph.1:22, we read that Christ is the Head. Head, in Greek is a feminine word, and if we apply the critic's rule, this would mean that Christ is woman! Absurd, of course. The same applies to other titles or figures that the Lord used of Himself. The words VINE and DOOR are both feminine words in Greek. Just as it is silly to say that this proves that Christ as the Head, Door or Vine is a female, it is as silly to say that the Greek pronoun "her" in Eph. 5.25 proves that the Church which is His Body is a female. Dispensational Difficulties Part 1 can be found here.
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Dispensational Difficulties? Part 2.

By Athol Walter