This is a great mystery.
The mysteriousness of religion
It is in a discourse upon marriage that the apostle introduces these remarkable words; but it is unnecessary that we connect them with the original context; they may be detached from it and treated by themselves as containing a great and interesting truth. Just observe. The Apostle Paul is brought to acknowledge that something which he had just been announcing was very mysterious; he does not attempt to deny or explain away the mystery; he leaves it in all its greatness, and in all its obscurity; but then he adds, “I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” As much as to say, “There is no reason for any surprise at there being mystery. When discourse turns on such subjects as Christ and the Church, mystery is to be expected, mystery is not to be avoided.” Here, then, opens before us a great and important subject of discourse. Do men object to us that there are mysterious things bard to be understood in Christianity? What course are we to take with these objectors? Are we to extenuate the mysteries, and try to make them seem less, as though we were ashamed of them, and felt that the gospel would be improved by their absence? Not so. We ought rather to glory in confessing and proclaiming them, considering it a sufficient answer to every objection that we are speaking “concerning Christ and the Church.” It is not for us to make Scripture less mysterious than the Almighty has made it.
I. Look, for instance, at Christ as born of a pure virgin in a stable at Bethlehem. The incarnation of the Son of God is not one of those facts which lose their mysteriousness through being examined and pondered. Familiarity may indeed make us less alive to its wonders; but the more we consider, the more must we be amazed.
II. But the apostle mentions the Church as well as Christ, and forasmuch as it is the union between Christ and the Church as typified by marriage which led him to express himself in the words of our text, we must briefly see whether there be not mystery--mystery to be thankfully acknowledged, not timidly concealed--in regard to true believers as well as their Divine Lord. Indeed there is mystery. That through such a system as the Christian there should be produced in believers that holiness without which there can be nothing of the oneness between Christ and the Church which marriage supposes--this indeed seems hardly to have been expected, and is not easily to be explained. We are nowise surprised that there should be so vehement an outcry as to the probable tendencies of the gospel; that those who preach as the alone mode of salvation the resting wholly on the merits of another, should often be regarded as advancing a tenet which strikes at the root of all moral energy. Now, in conclusion, we trust that you will thoroughly understand under what point of view the mysteries of the Bible should be regarded by the Christian. These mysteries are not to be shrunk from or concealed, as though Christianity would be the better for their removal; they should rather be gloried in and thankfully acknowledged, as though Christianity would fall to bits if they were taken away. It is the tone which we admire in our text, the frankness of the confession, the avoidance of all controversy. “This is a great mystery.” “I do not attempt to deny it,” says the apostle; “I do not wish to evade it. How can there be other than mystery when I am speaking ‘concerning Christ and the Church’?” But, my brethren, what is mystery now may not be mystery always. “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then we shall know, even as also we are known.” It must be that with our present imperfect faculties and limited capacities we are incompetent to the understanding much of the revelation which God has given us of Himself, but we shall understand more hereafter if we persevere to the end in fighting the good fight of faith. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christ the husband of the Church
There is a story in Fox’s Book of Martyrs of a woman who, when she came to be tried for her religion before the bishop, was threatened by him that he would take away her husband from her. “Christ,” was her reply, “is my husband.” “I will take away thy child,” said he. “Christ,” said she, “is better to me than ten sons.” “I will strip thee,” said he, “of all outward comforts.” And again came the answer, “Yes, but Christ is mine, and you cannot strip me of Him.” (Baxendale’s Anecdotes.)
The dignity of matrimony
Every blessing of Christianity springs from the union between the Son of God and mankind. This union was inaugurated when God took human nature and thus made it His own, when He became flesh for us, and dwelt among us; and it is continued in His intimate union with the Church, which is His body. It is by this union that Christ confers all graces.
1. In His union with the Church God gives Himself to men, and men give themselves to God. Matrimony should correspond with this idea (Genesis 2:24).
2. In the relations between Christ and the Church we admire perfect unity. This ought also to characterize Christian matrimony.
3. Unity involves indissolubility (Matthew 19:6).
4. Another consequence of unity is the reconciliation of authority and obedience.
5. Forbearance. Christ bears patiently all our imperfections, infirmities, and sins. In a similar manner married people should bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; as the members of the same body bear the infirmities of one another.
6. The objects to be attained by the union of Christ and His Church are the honour of God and the sanctification of men. The objects of matrimony are the same--the honour of God, the sanctification of the married couple, of the family, and of others who see their good works. (Bishop W. E. Ketteler)
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Church life
The true Church of Christ is in intimate union with Christ Himself. It is indissolubly joined unto Him, vitally connected with Him, and, I must add, it is altogether His possession, His servant. When it is in sound and healthy condition, it is in profound and active sympathy with Christ in all His purposes and works; and when it appears in all its beauty and grace, it is in full conformity to the mind of Christ.
I. The mutual love of the Church. This is the grand characteristic of believers: love in active exercise, love expressed in word and deed. In order to love, there must be knowledge or acquaintance.
II. The worship of the Church. The seat of worship is the heart. And the believer cannot neglect the exercise of private or secret worship. Then, those whom God has set in families should have a home altar, around which morning and evening the whole household should gather. As to the worship of God’s house, it is your privilege to be partakers of it, and you are under a solemn obligation to observe the ordinances of the sanctuary.
III. The work of the Church. This work is two-fold--edifying believers, and converting sinners.
IV. The finances of the Church.
V. The spiritual tone and temper of the Church. (A. G. Maitland, M. A.)
The wife a helper
Dr. Payson, meeting an irreligious lady whose husband was trying to serve God, addressed her thus: “Madam, I think your husband is looking upwards--making some effort to rise above the world towards God and heaven. You must not let him try alone. Whenever I see the husband struggling alone in such efforts, it makes me think of a dove endeavouring to fly upwards while it has one broken wing. It leaps and flutters, and perhaps rises a little way; and then it becomes wearied, and drops back again to the ground. If both wings cooperate, then it mounts easily.”
A wife’s kindness
It is related in the life of William Hutton that a countrywoman called upon him one day, and told him that her husband behaved unkindly to her, and sought other company, often passing his evenings from home, which made her feel very unhappy; and, knowing Mr. Hutton to be a wise man, she thought he might be able to tell her how she should manage to cure her husband. “The remedy is a simple one,” said he; “but I have never known it to fail. Always treat your husband with a smile.” The woman expressed her thanks, dropped a courtesy, and went away. A few months afterwards she waited on Mr. Hutton with a couple of fine fowls, which she begged him to accept. She told him, while a tear of joy and gratitude glistened in her eye, that she had followed his advice, and her husband was cured. He no longer sought she company of others, but treated her with constant love and kindness.