John the Baptist speaks of
Jesus Christ
as the bridegroom and mentions the bride.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom:
but the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth
greatly because of the bridegroom's
voice:
thus my
joy therefore is fulfilled
.[John 3:29]
That is the only place in the Gospels that the bride is mentioned,
but because a bridegroom must have a bride,
all other mentions of the bridegroom imply the bride.
In the Gospels,
when
Jesus is asked why his
disciples
do not fast,
but the
followers
of
John and the Pharisees
do,
Jesus answers:
And Jesus said unto them,
Can the
friends of the bridegroom fast,
as long
as
the bridegroom is with them?
but
the days will come,
when
the bridegroom shall
be
taken from them,
and then
shall they fast
.[Mark 2:19]
In Matthew 9:15, Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34,
the Apostles
are referred to as the
friends, guests, or children
depending on the translation,
of the
Bridegroom commonly accepted
to be
Jesus Christ.
The Bridegroom is also mentioned in the
Parable of the Ten Virgins
.[Mt 25:1-13]
"Then the kingdom of heaven
will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and
went out
to
meet the bridegroom."
The Book of Revelation
repeatedly mentions
the
appearance of the Bride.
And I John saw the
holy city,
new Jerusalem,
coming down
from God
out of heaven,
-God sent his only son-
-INTO the WORLD-
So that we would have
LIFE THROUGH
HIM
prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. ...
And there came unto me
one of the
seven angels
which had
the seven vials full of the
seven last plagues,
and
talked with me,
saying,
Come hither,
I will shew thee the bride, the
lamb's wife
And he
carried me away in the spirit
to a
great and high mountain,
and
shewed me that great city,
the
HOLY
Jerusalem,
descending
-out of heaven-
from God,
[Revelation 21:2,9-10]
In the above passages,
John, the author of the
Book of Revelation,
speaks of seeing the bride
revealed
and refers to her as the
New Jerusalem,
first mentioned in Revelation 3:12.
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come."
And let him that
heareth say, "Come."
And let him that is athirst come.
And whosoever
will,
let him take the water of life
freely
.[Revelation 22:17]
Note - The Greek word for bride is νύμφη (nymfi or numphe)
as in Revelation 21:2, 9, (cf., 18:23; 22:17).
This word, νύμφη ,
is understood
to mean "a son's wife," or "daughter-in-law," -"bride."
Revelation 19:7
which has γυνὴ (gune) means "wife" or "woman".
The context of Revelation 19:7
is marriage so this should inform the reader
why numerous Bible translations are
consistent with the Greek in translating γυνὴ as "bride".
The text
-provides-
the
context
Coupled with and Understanding
of the Culture
She is a betrothed "woman" getting married - a bride.
Bride is the word chosen in translations
such as NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, ISV etc., [Revelation 21:2]
Comparing church to a bride
Ephesians 5:22-33,
Paul compares the union of husband and wife
to that of
Christ and the church.
The central theme
of the
whole Ephesians letter
is reconciliation of the alienated within the
unity of the church.
Ephesians 5 begins by calling on Christians to
imitate God and Christ,
who gave himself up for them
with love
.[5:2] Ephesians 5:1-21
contains a rather
strong warning against foolishness
and
letting down
one's guard against evil.
Rather,
the
author encourages the readers
to
constantly give thanks with
song in their
hearts
because of
what God has done
for all
in Christ.
That prelude to the subject's text
Takes up AGAIN
the theme of loving submission
that began with
the
example of Christ in 5:2:
"Be submissive to one another out of
reverence for Christ
."5:21
It implies that the "Bride"
is the body of believers
that
comprise the universal Christian
Ekklēsia (Church) (lit. "called-out ones").
The ekklēsia is never explicitly called
"the bride of Christ"
in the New Testament.
That is approached in Ephesians 5:22–33.
A major analogy is that
of the body.
Just as husband and wife
are to be "one flesh"
,[Eph. 5:31] this
analogy for the writer
describes the relationship of Christ and ekklēsia.[Eph. 5:32]
Husbands were exhorted to love their wives
"just as Christ loved the ekklēsia
and gave himself for it.[Eph. 5:25]
When Christ nourishes and cherishes the ekklēsia,
he nourishes and cherishes his own flesh.
Just as the husband, when he loves his wife is
loving his own flesh.[Eph. 5:28] Members of the ekklēsia are
"members of his own body" because it is
written in Genesis 2:24 "
and the two shall become one flesh". In [Eph. 5:31]
Paul quotes the Genesis passage as what has been called
a "divine postscript".
In writing to the Church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11
Paul
writes to warn
the community of false teachers
who would
teach of another Christ,
and to
confess his concern
that they will
believe someone who teaches
a false Christ,
other than
Christ Jesus of Nazareth
whom he preached;
Paul referred to the
Church in Corinth
as being
espoused to Christ.
"For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy:
for I have
espoused you to one husband,
that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear,
lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted
from
the
simplicity
that is
in Christ
For if he that
cometh
preacheth another Jesus,
whom
we have not preached,
or
if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have
not received,
or
another gospel,
which ye have not accepted,
ye might well bear with him".
In the writing to the Church in Rome,
Paul writes,
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the law
by the
body of Christ;
that ye should
be married to another,
even to him who is
raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth
fruit unto God"
.[Romans 7]
Here, Paul seems to suggest
that the Church
is to be
married to Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
who was
raised from the dead.
Question:
In the Scriptures, why is Jesus referred to as the bridegroom,
and what is the
theological meaning of the term?
Answer:
Each of us is made for union with God,
but we do not always live up to this calling.
Unlike us, God is faithful and He desires to achieve union with us.
Through the Old Testament
prophets
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea,
as well as in Song of Songs,
God reveals the mystery
of His desire for union with humanity –
a union so intimate
that
He describes it as spousal love:
God is the bridegroom and
Israel is the bride.
Old Testament Fulfilled in Jesus
Despite
the infidelity of the people of Israel,
God still pursues them with a
merciful love.
This image of the bridegroom, however,
remains incomplete in the Old Testament,
and
the people of Israel continue to
look forward to union
between God and humanity.
Everything changes when God
becomes
man in Jesus Christ.
Israel's
Expectation
for God the bridegroom
is
now fulfilled.
Among the titles for Jesus in the New Testament
(Son of Man, Christ, Savior, etc.),
John the Baptist tells his followers
that
Jesus is the bridegroom
and
John is equivalent to His best man!
After confessing that he is not the Messiah,
John says,
“The one who has the bride is the bridegroom…
He must increase; I must decrease”
(John 3:29-30).
In light of the Old Testament,
John’s
proclamation is astonishing since
it acknowledges that
Jesus is God
come to Earth
to unite
humanity to Himself.
Self-Revelation at Cana
This confession is substantiated in the
very words and deeds of Jesus.
When asked why His disciples
do not fast,
Jesus replies with a question in which
He references Himself: “
Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
(Matthew 9:15).
Jesus is the bridegroom announcing
His wedding with humanity.
This is -shown through-
His first miracle.
At a wedding reception in Cana, the
groom runs out of wine.
At the prompting of
His mother,
Jesus decides
to begin
manifesting Himself
by
changing water
into wine.
Since it was the groom’s responsibility
to provide the wine,
through this miracle
Jesus
shows Himself
to be
the
long-awaited bridegroom.
The Eucharist and the Cross
Jesus further reveals
himself as the bridegroom
at the end of his life
through
the Eucharist and
on the Cross.
More than a last meal,
the Last Supper is a wedding banquet
wherein Jesus,
like a good husband,
offers
the total gift of Himself.
On the Cross,
Jesus
consummates this gift
and
weds himself
totally to humanity forever.
Jesus, the bridegroom, offers Himself for
His bride, the Church.
The mystery of the relationship between
Christ and the Church is explained
through nuptial imagery.
The Catechism summarizes,
“The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb …
He has joined her with himself in
an everlasting covenant
and
never stops caring for
her
as for his own body”
Awaiting the Wedding Feast
As the Old Testament foretold the
union between God and man in Jesus,
the New Testament provides the
spiritual context
for understanding why Jesus is called
the
bridegroom.
Using this image, we see that
Jesus offered Himself
so that others might have life in Him.
We await the life to come,
to join the “wedding supper of the Lamb”
(Revelation 19:7)
when we, as members of the Church, will live
forever with Jesus.
Salvation “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:22-33). In the letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul compares the marriage of husband and wife to the union of Christ and the Church. As a Jewish Christian, Paul understood that the fundamental shape of salvation history as a whole is nuptial. In the Jewish tradition, salvation begins with the wedding of Adam and Eve, when the bride is created from the flesh of the bridegroom. Since then, all of salvation history has been the unfolding of God’s covenental relationship with his people.
Unity with God
"I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you,
declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine”
(Ezekiel 16:8).
The relationship between Yahweh and Israel
is a model of marriage
More than the political liberation of a group, God’s covenant with Israel reveals the union of the Creator with his chosen people whom he has set apart.
Similarly, Judeo-Christian marriage is a covenant that both unites together and sets apart from the rest.
In both God’s covenant with Israel
and
the marriage covenant,
the acknowledgement of
something holy
and extraordinary inspires
an enduring promise.
Sacrifice
"The bride belongs to the bridegroom.
The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him,
and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.
That joy is mine,
and it is now complete”
(John 3:29).
In the Gospels,
John the Baptist is a kind of “best man” who heralds the groom
and then steps away at his arrival.
At the start of John’s Gospel,
Jesus turns water into wine at a Jewish wedding feast,
revealing his identity
as
the bridegroom-Messiah.
As he provides an abundance of wine,
he also alludes to the
future
Messianic banquet
where
death is overcome
by
another
abundant outpouring of wine,
his own blood.
In predicting his own passion,
Jesus also frames
his death in
the context
of a
wedding day
(see Matthew 9:14-15; Mark 2:18-20; Luke 5:33-35).
But Jesus is
no ordinary bridegroom
and his marriage
is no ordinary marriage;
his
redemption is nuptial.
His wedding feast
is the Last Supper,
and the
consummation of his marriage
happens on the cross.
Suffering and Love
"It is by
following Christ,
renouncing themselves
and
taking up their crosses
that spouses
will be able to ‘receive’
the original meaning
of
marriage
and live it
with the help of Christ.
This grace of
Christian marriage
is a
fruit
of
Christ's cross,
the source
of all
Christian life”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also
reiterates
Christ's identity as the bridegroom,
connecting the way
Christ gave himself on the cross
and
the way
a husband and wife give themselves to
one another.
Viewing
Christian marriage
through the lens
of the cross
reminds us
how suffering and love
are bound up together:
the more willingly
you suffer
on
another’s behalf,
the
more you love.