Ephesians 5:32

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. [ To (G3588) musteerion (G3466) mega (G3173) estin (G1510)] 'This mystery is great.' This truth, hidden once, but now revealed-namely, Christ's spiritual union with the Church, mystically represented by marriage-is of deep import (note, Ephesians 5:30). So "mystery" means a divine truth not to be discovered except by revelation of God (Romans 11:25;...

32._This is a great mystery. _He concludes by expressing his astonishment at the spiritual union between Christ and the church. _This is a great mystery; _by which he means, that no language can explain fully what it implies. It is to no purpose that men fret themselves to comprehend, by the judgment of the flesh, the manner and character of this union; for here the infinite power of the Divine Spirit is exerted. Those who refuse to admit anything on this subject beyond what their own capacity can reach, act an exceedingly foolish part. We tell them that the flesh and blood of Christ are exhibited to us in the Lord’s supper. “Explain to us the manner,” they reply, “or you will not convince us.” For my own part, I am overwhelmed by the depth of this mystery, and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging at once my ignorance and my admiration. How much more satisfactory would this be th...

22-33 The duty of wives is, submission to their husbands in the Lord, which includes honouring and obeying them, from a principle of love to them. The duty of husbands is to love their wives. The love of Christ to the church is an example, which is sincere, pure, and constant, notwithstanding her failures. Christ gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify it in this world, and glorify it in the next, that he might bestow on all his members a principle of holiness, and deliver them from the guilt, the pollution, and the dominion of sin, by those influences of the Holy Spirit, of which baptismal water was the outward sign. The church and believers will not be without spot or wrinkle till they come to glory. But those only who are sanctified now, shall be glorified hereafter. The words of Adam, mentioned by the apostle, are spoken literally of marriage; but they have also a hidden...

Verse 32. _THIS IS A GREAT MYSTERY_] τομυστηριον τουτο μεγα εστιν. _This mystery is great. Sacramentum hoc magnum est; this_ _sacrament is great_. - VULGATE. And on the evidence of this version the Church of Rome has made matrimony a sacrament, which, as they use it, is no meaning of the original. By _mystery_, here, we may understand a natural thing by which some _spiritual_ matter is signified, which signification the Spirit of God alone can give. So, here, the creation and union of Adam and Eve, were intended, in the design of God, to point out the union of Christ and the Church: a union the most important that can be conceived; and therefore the apostle calls it a _great mystery_. See the observations at the end of this chapter....

THIS IS A GREAT MYSTERY - The Latin Vulgate translates this, “sacramentum hoc magnum est” - “this is a great sacrament” - and this is the proof, I suppose, and the only proof adduced by the papists that marriage is a “sacrament.” But the original here conveys no such idea. The word “mystery” - μυστήριον mustērion - means something which is concealed, hidden, before unknown; something into which one must be “initiated” or instructed before he can understand it. It does not mean that it is “incomprehensible” when it is disclosed, but that hitherto it has been kept secret. When disclosed it may be as intelligible as any other truth; see the word explained in the notes on Ephesians 1:9. Here it means simply, that there was much about the union of the Redeemer with his people, resembling the marriage connection

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 5:1 BE YE THEREFORE IMITATORS OF GOD, AS CHILDREN BELOVED. These words are closely connected with the preceding. In Ephesians 4:32 he had urged the example of God in one very momentous matter; he now urges it in a more general sense and on another ground. We ought to forgive men because God has forgiven us—all admit that; but moreover, we ought to imitate our Father in his forgiveness and in his loving spirit, be-because beloved children should always imitate, and will always strive to imitate, what is good in a beloved father. Forgiving love is one of the great glories of our Father; it has been made peculiarly attractive in our eyes, because it has been exercised by him towards us; every consideration, therefore, ought to ind

THIS IS A GREAT MYSTERY,.... It has something mysterious in it; it is a figure and emblem of the mysterious union between Christ and his people: for so it follows, BUT I SPEAK CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH; or mention this law and institution of marriage, with respect to them; for the leaving of father and mother prefigured Christ's coming forth from the Father, and coming into this world in human nature, and his disregard to his earthly parents, in comparison with his people, and his service for them; the man cleaving to the wife very aptly expresses the strong affection of Christ to his church, and the near communion there is between them; and their being one flesh denotes the union of them; and indeed, the marriage of Adam and Eve was a type of Christ and his church; for in this the first Adam was a figure of him that was to come, as well as in being a federal head to his posterit...

Ephesians 5:1. _Be ye therefore followers of God,_ Or, imitators of God,- Ephesians 5:1. _As dear children;_ Children are naturally imitators. They are usually inclined to imitate their father; this is, therefore, a most comely and appropriate precept: «Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children.» Ephesians 5:2. _And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor._ What a path to walk in! «Walk in love.» What a well-paved way it is! «As Christ also hath loved us.» What a blessed Person for us to follow in that divinely royal road! It would have been hard

BRIDE (Ephesians 5:30); (Ephesians 5:31) are quoted from (Genesis 2:23); (Genesis 2:24), and exclude the interpretation that the reference is to the church merely as the body of Christ. Eve, taken from Adam's body, was truly "bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh," but she was also his wife, united to him in a relation which makes of "twain. . . One flesh", (Matthew 19:5); (Matthew 19:6), and so a clear type of the church as bride of Christ. ...

4. MANIFESTATION IN THE FAMILY-RELATIONSHIP Chapter S 5:22-6:4 _ 1. Wives representative of the Church (Ephesians 5:22)_ 2. Husbands representative of Christ (Ephesians 5:25) 3. The mystery: concerning Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:30) 4. Exhortations to children and parents (Ephesians 6:1) The exhortations which follow concern the Christian family. The mystery concerning Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32) is to be manifested in the family relationship. While before we have seen the