Is the Church the Bride of Christ? 2 Corinthians 11:2 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back, and we're just going to pick right up where we left off in our last program, which was in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and we ended at verse 12. So we'll jump right in at verse 13, and then go on into chapter 11 in this half hour. Again we always like to welcome our television audience, and we appreciate your letters, we appreciate your financial help, but most of all I guess I'd have to say we appreciate your prayers. When people write, we pray for you and Iris three times a day, and I'm always so thrilled that they include Iris in our ministry, because without her I couldn't do it, and the Lord knows it, and I know it, and I think everybody else knows it, because she's the grease that just sort of keeps the wheels moving, and I just thank the Lord for her as well. So all the programs are available on video, audio, and the printed page, and if you're interested in any of this material, you call us and we'll get a list out to you showing the tables of contents and what have you. I think another thing I should probably announce, we do put out a quarterly newsletter free of charge, and it just sort of keeps people aware of where we are on television, and where we're holding seminars, and it also makes you aware of various tours and cruises and everything else that's coming up, and if you want to have information on that, you just drop us a note or call us and we'll put you on our mailing list. Let's turn now to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and pick up where we left off, which was in verse 12. Now we'll go into verse 13, and remember the whole theme here is that the Apostle Paul is still defending his authority as an apostle, and it's just as appropriate today as it was in that time. Because you've heard it, I hear it over and over where people refuse to give this man any room in their thinking. I try to show people, well look, you take Romans through Hebrews out of your New Testament, and you've gutted it, and yet they refuse to look at this area of the Scriptures as much as they should. Oh, they'll make reference to it, I know that, but yet to teach what the Apostle Paul writes, I'm afraid that too many of them fall far too short, and I hope I'll never be guilty of that. And so this is why we're taking our time as we move through these epistles. Remember that he is writing to the church age believer directly, whereas all the rest of Scripture is written primarily to the Jew, and though we take profit from it, we can make applications from it, yet always remember that what was written to the Jew under the Law does not directly apply to us. And so we have to learn how to discern these things. Reading on now in verse 13, where Paul says, "...we will not boast of things without or beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us." Now you see how Paul always so coyly insinuates here that everything he has, everything that he does, everything he writes is not originating with him, it originates with God and Christ Himself in glory. Verse 14, Paul says, "...for we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you, but he did reach unto them, and he had response. For we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ." Now I know that most of Christendom today, without even realizing it, is preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, rather than the gospel of Christ. And it's that vast difference that is leading so many people glibly down a wrong road. And we're seeing it, and we're hearing it over and over, that they are not hearing the gospel of grace, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God. What Paul calls, my gospel. But instead they are hearing the gospel of the Kingdom, which of course Jesus and the Twelve proclaimed to the nation of Israel. Verse 15, Paul says, "...not boasting of things without or beyond our measure, our capabilities, that is, of other men's labors." Now watch this, this is a sly cutting again, "...as though we reached not unto you, but not of other men's labors." Who do you think he's referring to? The Twelve. He says, I'm not an extension of what the Twelve have accomplished. I'm not building on what they have done. But he's out there in virgin territory, because you see the Twelve's ministry was confined to the nation of Israel, within the borders. Very seldom did they even go beyond the Jordan River. But here this man is out in pagan Gentile territory all by himself, and the Twelve have had nothing to do with what he is accomplishing. And so he says, "...that is, he's not boasting of other men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged, that he could be blessed by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you." Now where was Corinth? Well about half way west. What is still beyond? Rome, and Spain, and Great Britain. And then as time went by, to the New World. But all because of the man's authority as an apostle. So to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. You see how clearly that says? Now just think about this for a moment. Had the Twelve, under the Lord's ministry, covered the whole area of the Mediterranean? And just say for example, that they had been to Corinth at an earlier time, or Athens, or Ephesus, or even Asia Minor. And then the apostle Paul could come along and build on what they had begun. He couldn't say this. But they didn't. They had no ministry outside of the nation of Israel. And so every place he goes, like I said a moment ago, it was virgin territory. These people had never heard that Christ had died for their sins, and that He had been raised from the dead. Now verse 17, Paul says, "...but he that glorieth let him glory in the LORD." It's God that is using the man. God has an instrument that was willing of course, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, without the power of God, even the apostle Paul would have accomplished nothing. You know one of my favorite verses, and I've looked at it on this program, and for every one of us, every one of you that are Sunday school teachers, for everyone out in television, you're teaching classes in church and in your home, this is basic to every one of us, and it was to the apostle Paul. Acts 16, and dropping down to verse 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, now I know you've said, Oh Les you've read this so often, but we're going to read it again. Acts 16, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the LORD opened, so that she attended unto the things that were spoken of by Paul. Now do you see how clear that is? Who opened Lydia's heart? God did. But what instrument did God use to attend to her need? And it's the same way today. No minister, no teacher can accomplish anything unless the Lord opens the heart. And see that's why we appreciate prayer, not only on our behalf, but on every one of you who will pass these things on. And oh it just thrills my heart when I realize how many people, even if they don't use our tapes, if they just simply take what they have learned. And I tell so many across the country, now listen, you don't have to tell your class where you got it, you don't have to give me credit for it. You just go in and you teach it as though the Lord revealed it to you, as long as you can use the Scripture, that's all that's necessary. But the main thing is that we are instruments that God can use when He opens a heart that somebody can give Him the Word. And see we had a discussion about this in one of our classes the other night, very, very seldom, and I won't say it can't happen because I've run across two now, where they claim to have found salvation absolutely by themselves, without anyone giving them any outside input. One was a young man who got caught up in the Canadian wilderness for a whole winter, and all he had to spend his time was to read that Bible. But by spring he had come to a knowledge of salvation. Now I say that's rare, because you see Romans says, how can they believe unless someone proclaim it? And God has seen fit to use human instruments. And that's why you teach Sunday school classes, that's why you teach a home Bible class, because people have to have a human instrument to show them what the Word says. But now another one that comes to mind, and you're probably thinking in Acts chapter 8, who was it? The Ethiopian eunuch. And what did he tell Philip? How can I understand unless some other man tell me? And so this is the whole concept of Scriptures. Coming back then to II Corinthians, verse 17 says, Is he that glorieth, letting glory in the Lord? Because the Lord has to open their hearts. And now verse 18, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Now again, what is the man refuting? The charges against him, that all he was doing was what he had drummed up in his own mind, and he had concocted all this. He didn't have any authority, but oh he said, look I've got all the authority of the universe, because God is the One who sent me to you. And then when we get to the book of Galatians in a few months, he's going to make it so abundantly clear that everything that he understood of the Spirit, the Ascended Lord Jesus in heaven revealed it to him, spoke to him, and led him of course by the working of the Holy Spirit. Now then you come on into chapter 11 here in II Corinthians, and I know that there are differences of opinion about the Church, the Body of Christ being the Body of Christ, or whether it's Israel, but they haven't changed my mind. I've been deluged with information from both camps, but I still hold to what I've held before, and I have my reasons. Now that doesn't say I'll never change my mind, but I still feel the Church is the Bride of Christ. And as I said when we started the study in the book of Romans, I agree with O. William R. Newell, the teacher of the 20's and 30's in the Chicago area, when he made the statement that when the Bride of Christ is ready to be presented to the groom, the Apostle Paul will be the introducer. I like to think of it that way. I think Paul is going to just stand head and shoulders, and of course he took it from those Scriptures where the disciples asked the Lord Jesus, well when you come into your kingdom, who will be the greatest in the kingdom? And do you remember Jesus' answer? He that is least shall be the greatest. Well then when the Apostle Paul comes along, what does he speak of himself as? I am the least of the Apostles. So O. William R. Newell put that together, and I tend to agree that on that basis I think the Apostle Paul will indeed be the one who will introduce the Bride to her groom. Verse 1 of chapter 11. Verse 11. Would to God that ye could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am jealous over you. Now don't forget who he's writing to. He's writing to Gentile believers, which of course includes Jews in the Age of Grace, but he's writing to members of the Body of Christ, and he says, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste, or a pure virgin to Christ. Now isn't that a beautiful picture? Now this is why the bride is depicted then in Revelation as clothed in linen, bright and white and clean, because you see that's the whole concept of a virgin bride, and that's why she's always been depicted as wearing white, because of hopefully her purity. Now he says to the church, I am jealous over you, for I have espoused you to one husband. Now you want to remember this goes back to the habit of cultures in days gone by, quite contrary to the way we do things, where the parents would literally pair the children. So when the father would find the appropriate girl for his son's bride, he would make all the arrangements, and he more or less consummated the espousal, in other words what we today would call the engagement. Now Paul is taking that same concept, that he has made the engagement between the body of Christ, and Christ the head of the body, in lieu of the wedding that will one day transpire I think in glory. Now the reason I still stick to this, and I know there are those who feel that the body of Christ is not the bride, that it's Israel, and here is the reason. Because as he writes to the Corinthians, who are members of the body of Christ, he says verse 3. I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now what's he driving at? Well that as Adam and Eve were the first couple that God had ordained as the first human family, and as God ordained the setup, He made the man the head of the woman. Now let's turn to Ephesians, and we'll be here too in time to come if the Lord tarries. But let's go to Ephesians chapter 5, where he draws this analogy between the husband's relationship with his wife, and Christ's relationship with the Church. And again, if there was not that groom and bride concept, I don't think the Apostle would do this. Ephesians 5, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. Do you see that analogy? And He is the Savior of the body, that is the body of Christ or the individual, however you want to look at it. Ephesians 5, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Now verse 24. Ephesians 5, for the husband is the Savior of the body, even as Christ is the head of Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be subject to their own husbands and everything. Now all I'm drawing is the analogy between the wife and the husband in the physical, and And Christ as the Head to the Body of Christ, as I feel as the Bride. Then you go on up to verse 27, that he might present it, that is the Body of Christ, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Now again what's the concept going back to? That beautiful white clad Bride without a wrinkle. You know I've always made the statement, and Iris and I agree, and we've been to a lot of weddings over the years, I have never seen a Bride that wasn't attractive, regardless of whether she may have been a more or less plain girl otherwise, but boy when she puts on that wedding gown, they are so attractive. And so this is exactly the picture that God is drawing, that the Body of Christ as the Bride, white and clean, and without wrinkle, and without blemish. Then he goes into verse 28, and again comes back to the physical analogy of the husband and the wife. Now I have another one that I'd like to bring back, and I know the connection may not be quite as clear cut, but on the other hand I have to feel that the Holy Spirit gave Paul this particular picture again for our own doctrinal understanding, and that is in Romans chapter 7 verse 4. I want you all to find the time to find it, Romans chapter 7 verse 4. Romans 7. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ, and that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Now I think when we taught Romans we brought this out. What is the primary purpose of God bringing man and woman together in a marital relationship? Fruit! And what's the fruit? Children! That's the primary purpose, not the soul, but the primary. Now the same way here, what is the primary purpose of God uniting Himself to us as members of the Body of Christ, and claiming us as His own? To be fruitful and to bring forth spiritual children. Now we're all getting anxious, I trust, for the Lord to soon return as we see the world just plunging into the end time phenomena, and the things that are getting bad are going to do nothing but get worse while you're in Romans. Stop with me at Romans 11 verse 25. Because here's the whole concept, that as a physical marriage God expects to have the fruit of that marriage to be children, so also the fruit of the believers should be other believers. We call it soul winning, and it has to be done scripturally. Romans 11 verse 25, where it says, Romans 11 verse 25. I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, or this secret, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part... Now that is a spiritual blindness for a period of time that will one day end. That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in. Now what's the fullness of the Gentiles? When the Body of Christ is complete. And you remember I've given the analogy of the little baby in the womb, and when the mother's womb has finished forming every part of that little body to the last cell, then what? Delivery. Oh, it's the same way here, that when God has finished drawing into the last person coming into the Body of Christ, we're out of here. Now that's all there is to it, we're out of here. And then He can pick up and finish where He left off with the nation of Israel. In the minute or two that we have left, let's come back to II Corinthians chapter 11, and so verse 3, now He again says, that even as the serpent beguiled Eve in that first marital union in the Garden, Adam and Eve, that as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now if Eve is a symbol of the Church, the Body of Christ, then it stands to reason that it's the Church that Satan is constantly attacking. Because he knows that it's in the realm of the Church that he has his greatest opposition. Now you know, we hear over and over that when good men do nothing, bad things happen, absolutely. And so Satan knows that. So if he can neutralize the Body of Christ to where it says nothing, then he can have full sway, and we're getting there. Now then verse 4, for if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, not the one of the cross, not the one in resurrection power, but another Jesus, for if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom Paul says, we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might bear well with him. Now if I had the time, and I guess we don't, but I would go to Galatians chapter 1, and what does Paul say? Oh he says, I fear for you because you have been deluged by another gospel, which is not really another, but it is a perverted one. And then he goes on to say a dramatic statement. If any come unto you preaching any other gospel than what I have preached unto you, let him be, what, accursed. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. 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