How does Paul use the marriage analogy to describe the believer's union with Christ?
Paul uses marriage as an analogy of the believer’s union with Christ, like a husband and wife. When old Adam is crucified and broken from the law’s demands, the believer is married to Christ, delivered from the law, and serves in newness of the Spirit.
Les explains that this is a position: when a believer is married to Christ, the analogy is the union between us and Christ, like husband and wife. He points out Paul uses this in Ephesians chapter 5, where Christ loved the church, and husbands are told to love their wives. Les calls it a constant analogy Paul brings up. The context repeats that old Adam must be crucified and put to death, so he is broken from the demands of the Ten Commandments and the believer can be married to Christ. In chapter 7, verse 6, now that we are married to Christ, old Adam is crucified, broken from the demands of the Mosaic law, and we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit—the Holy Spirit.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
More Questions
Where does Paul use the picture of Christ and the church as a husband and wife?
Paul repeatedly uses the marriage/union analogy; in Ephesians 5, Christ's love for the church is the model for husbands loving their wives.
What happens when a husband treats his wife as Christ treats the church?
When a husband treats his wife as Christ treats the church, he has a whole different attitude, so no lawyer will ever have to touch him and there will not be a divorce problem.