#15 Christ's Bride No Longer Corrupt

By Dr. Stephen Phinney

I have often wondered what it would have been like to have married my bride in a perfect state of being. Since my thoughts are constantly filtering the influx of sin by the enemy, I have never been able to even image the glory of such an idea. I am sure she could say the same about me. This is why it is an almost impossible task for us to comprehend that Christ Jesus actually married a Bride who was and is no long corrupt, particularly when I see Bridal members wounding each other more than the enemy. 

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But, you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:17-24).  

“So this I say and affirm together with the Lord”  
I either bear witness, in the name of the Lord Jesus, or I am ministering by His authority. The object of this is to exhort each Bridal member to walk worthy of his or her high calling, and to adorn themselves with the doctrines of the Groom. With this view, the Groom reminds the Bride of what they were before their conversion, and of the manner in which the harlots (impure women) lived out around them.   

“That you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk”  
Most likely, this shows that the mass of converts in the Ephesian church were from among the pagans (those who have no belief in Christ). Paul regarded them as Gentile converts. He challenges us not to function in the futility of our minds - in the way of recklessness or in thoughtfulness. The word vanity or futility, in the Scriptures, means more than mere emptiness. It denotes moral wrong, usually being applied to those who worshipped vain idols, and then, those who were alienated from the true God.  

“Being darkened in their understanding”  
These converts had darkened understanding because they were alienated from the true God and particularly, because of the blindness of their hearts. The problem at hand here was, and is, the Bride continuing to think and function like her unsaved friends, i.e. not living as Bridal members of the great Groom, but still acting like harlots of the age. In general, Gentiles functioned in darkness. Paul speaks of a simple and well-known fact; a fact seen today, as well - understanding becomes darkened by indulgence in sin. A person, with a darkened mind, has no just views of the regulations of his appetites. One, who freely indulges in sexual activity, has no perception of the loveliness of purity. A person, who is materialistic or covetous, has no just views of the beauty of compassion. One, who indulges in vices, will weaken his mental powers or abilities, and render himself incapable of true spiritual effort. Indulgence in vices destroys spiritual insight, as well as the body, and makes one unfit to apprehend the Truth. 

Nothing is more obvious than the fact that indulgence in sin weakens the mental capabilities and renders us unfit for the higher calling. The pagan world (in the unresponsive, stupid mind; the perverted moral sense) reveals the incapacity for profound or extended spiritual effort. The Bridal member, who carries out pagan ways, leaves an impression that the gospel of the Groom is lukewarm and inviting of indulgent vices – wasted by recklessness and drunkenness. This is not the message our Groom desires to portray. What the Bride should desire is this: If a person wishes to be blessed with a clear understanding, he should be a “pure Bride.” The Bride with a balanced and clear mind should fear and love God. It should also be understood that as Bridal members debase their understanding with sin, it is needful to make an effort to redeem their minds once again. This can only be done through the renewal of the mind in Christ Jesus.  

“Excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them”  
This means they lived a life unlike that of the Father, or lived a life He could not approve (as Source and Author). The ignorance, of the true God and of what constituted virtue, was a lack of the quality of being morally good and righteous. This is what’s in the minds of unsaved or Gentile thinkers. 

“Because of the hardness of their heart”  
Because of their hardened hearts, they have become callous and given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. Here, the reason is stated why the Bride lived and acted as we did before being saved and why our understanding was blinded. It is not that God enfeebled our human mind by an act of revenge, due to the sin of Adam; but that man made his own mind this way because of the sin of Adam. Due to Adam’s sin, mankind has a deficiency and incapacity of supernatural understanding. Before becoming Bridal members, we only had one kind of understanding, that of the natural (earthy) type. Man cannot understand the things of God unless he is redeemed by the Groom. The simple reason is because of the hardness or the heart. Sin hardened the hearts of man. A man or woman who has a blind and hardened heart sees no Truth, nor the beauty in Truth.  

THE THREE POINTS OF THE MIND  

People are to blame for the blindness of their darkened minds and misunderstandings. A person becomes responsible for whatever proceeds from his wicked heart. Adam provided the basis of a darkened mind; from that day forward, every human being born has been born with a darkened heart. 

Undoubtedly, there is a shared influence between the dark mind and a degenerate heart. One acts on the other. Understanding is affected, first, through the will or heart. If it is a bad heart (unsaved), it will promote a dark mind. This is a direct result of the consequences of our union with Adam and the fall. Due to this certainty, our emotional instability, understanding, will, and affections have all been corrupted. The need for the Groom has now been made clear.  

The unsaved (non-Bridal members) are under obligation to repent, in order to love God. Man could not be trusted, by God, if they enlarged their intellects or created additional emotional stability of their own mind. The only way God, the Father, could trust mankind was to make him a new creature. He had to give him a new heart. 

The way to enlighten the understanding of the mind of man is to purify his heart. The approach must be made through the affections and choices of the Groom. For the Father knew that if the people “felt” right toward Him, they would soon “think” right, and allow the heart to be pure. Therefore, their minds would no longer be darkened. 

“Lay Aside the Old Self” 
“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:20-24). 

“But you (the Bride) did not learn Christ in this way” 
You have been taught a different thing by the Groom; you have been taught that His Life requires you to abandon such a course of life. Christ is making a clear distinction between the “old teacher” and the new. 

“If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him” 
If you have listened attentively to His instructions and learned the true nature of His Life, you would not practice the things of the old teacher. You would practice only those taught by the Spirit, or by the ministers whom He had appointed. 

“Just as (the) truth is in Jesus” 
We have learned the true nature of His Life, as He Himself taught it. The Truth He gave to us was simple and life changing. We are instructed to lay aside the old self from the former manner of life and renounce it. The meaning here is “with respect to your former conduct or habits of life, lay aside all that pertained to a corrupt and fallen nature.” You are not to lay everything aside that formerly pertained to you; your dress, manners, modes of speech, and conversation might have been correct, in many respects. However, everything that proceeded from sin - every habit, custom, mode of speech, and conduct that was the result of depravity is to be laid aside. The special characteristics of an unconverted or unsaved man are what you are to put off; you are to assume those which are the proper fruits of a renewed heart.

“Which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit (the heart)” 
Each day, the flesh is consistently being corrupted by the lust of the heart. The more we operate in the former things, the more we give lust an opportunity to deceive us into thinking we are still slaves to the old teacher. The un-renewed man is not under the direction of reason and sound sense, but is controlled by his passions and desires. The word, lust, has a more limited significance today than the original word and meaning. Today, the word “lust” is confined to one class - sensual appetites; but the original word denotes any passion or tendency of the heart. It may include greed, ambition, the love of pleasure, or gratification in any way. The fuller meaning is that the heart is, by nature, under the control of such desires. 

Those types of passions are deceitful. They lead us astray. If fact, they plunge us back into the ruins of Satan all over again. All the passions and pleasures of the world are illusive. They promise more than they perform. They leave their deluded vows to disappointment and endless tears, or to repentance without change. Nothing is more deceitful than the promised pleasures of this world. All who yield to them find that at last they flatter, but betray - and in the end, kill us. 

IN SUMMARY   

As the Bride of Christ, we are members one of another. We belong to one body - the Church - which is the body of the Groom. The idea is that falsehood tends to loosen the bonds of brotherhood. In the human body, as discussed earlier, harmony is typically perfect. The eyes never deceive the hand, nor the hand, the foot, nor the heart, nor the lungs. The whole moves harmoniously, as if the one could put the utmost confidence in the other. Falsehood in the Church is as disastrous to its interests as it would be to the body, if one member was perpetually practicing a deception on another. As Bridal members, we need each other to be freed from the lusts of the heart and the darkened minds of the former ways of living. When each Bridal member is living and functioning in the Truth of the Groom, we can be the Bride the Groom needs for His work of service – helping other fallen Bridal members. The bottom line is we need to prepare as Brides, for the Groom. 

Christ’s Bride No Longer Corrupt Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

Next: The Song of the Father

#14 The Father's View of Marriage

By Dr. Stephen R. Phinney

Anyone who has come to know me as a husband, father, grandfather, or pastor, quickly begins to see my immovable views on God the Father. The role of father and patriarch is of utmost priority and importance to my spiritual health and well-being.

We learn in Gen. 2:24, and reproduced by our Lord with greater distinctness in Matt. 19:4-5, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all separate individual beings - but are One as a whole. God, the Father, established the institution of marriage in the Garden of Eden to prepare the way for the original, eternal design and union of Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:31; Mark 10:5-9; 1 Cor. 6:16; 7:2). The point is that a man and woman, united in marriage as husband and wife, combine to form one perfect human being; one is the complement and completer of the other. Therefore, Christ makes the Church a necessary appendage to Himself. He is the model from whom, as the blueprint, the Church is formed (Romans 6:5). He is her Head, as the husband is of the wife (1 Cor. 11:3; 15:45). Death is the tool that severs the bridegroom and the bride, but death cannot separate Christ and His bride. Our death is what unites us to Him (Matt. 19:6; John 10:28-29; 13:1; Rom. 8:35-39).

“This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32).

In this passage, the phrase "this mystery is great" is the truth; hidden once, but now revealed. Christ's spiritual union with the Church is mysteriously represented by marriage; not marriage in general, but the marriage of Christ and the Church. In Eph. 5:30, Paul says, "For we are members of His (glorified) body, (being formed out) of His flesh and of His bones” (NKJV, parentheses added). This statement should sound a bit familiar to you. When Adam was placed in a deep sleep, the Father formed Eve out of his opened side, symbolizing Christ's death - which was the birth of His spouse, the Church (John 12:24; 19:34-35). As Adam gave Eve a new name ('ishah, woman or wife - the counterpart of iysh, man or husband), so Christ gives the Church His new name: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it” (Rev. 2:17).

Every member in the Church should keep his/her place, just as every bone, nerve, and muscle in the human frame. Every member of the body should be in its right position; the heart, the lungs, the eyes, and the tongue should occupy their right place. And every nerve in the system should be laid down just where the Father designed it to be. If so, all is well. If not, all is deformity or disorder, just as it is often in the Church. Many Christians have asked the question: “Why did God allow deformities in mankind?” For me, it is not difficult to understand. I believe God the Father gave humans, who suffer with deformities, to help us see what happens when the body does not conform or cooperate with itself. When one or more members of a body do not rightly fit together, the body is forced to form in its own image, which is deformity in God’s design. Today, we live in a world that has a “deformed” body of Christ – separated, independent, opinionated, and full of itself. The engagement period of the Bride is for the purpose of uniting, purifying, and forming her for a perfect fit unto her Husband, Christ. “Being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).

FROM WHOM THE WHOLE BODY:
The church compared with the human body

The idea is that as the head in the human frame conveys vital influence, rigor, motion, etc., to every part of the body; so Christ is the source of life, rigor, energy, and increase to the Bride. The sense is the whole human body is admirably arranged for growth and thoroughness. Every member and joint contributes to its healthful and harmonious action. One part lends vigor and beauty to another, so that the whole is finely proportioned and admirably sustained. The whole body depends on the head with reference to the most important functions of life and all derive their vitality from the head; so it is with the Church. Everything is designed to be in its proper place and nothing, by the divine arrangement, is lacking in its organization to its perfection. For this is the reflection of the creation of the Father. His creation was, and is, a visual demonstration of the fitting together of the Body of Christ. For He has shown us how the Church depends on Christ (as the head) to sustain, invigorate, and guide it, through the illustration of the human body being dependent on the head.

FITTED AND HELD TOGETHER: 
The body whose members are properly united to produce the most beauty and strength

Each member is in the best place and properly united to the other members. Let anyone read any work on anatomy and he will find innumerable instances of the truth of this remark; not only in the proper adjustment and placing of the members, but in the manner in which members are united to the other parts of the body. The foot, for instance, is in its proper place. It should not be where the head or the hand is. The eyes are in their proper place. They should not be in the knee or the heel. The mouth, the tongue, the teeth, the lungs, the heart are in their proper places. No other places would answer the purpose so well. The brain is in its proper place. Anywhere else in the body and it would be subject to compressions and injuries, which would soon destroy life. In addition, these parts are as admirably united to fill other parts of the body, as they are perfectly located. For instance, let’s examine the tendons, nerves, muscles, and bones, which secure the foot to the body and by which easy and graceful motion is obtained. We will be satisfied of the wisdom by which the body is joined together. We do not know how far the knowledge of the apostle extended on this point; but all the investigations of anatomists only serve to give increased beauty and force to the general terms which he uses here. All that Paul says here of the human frame is strictly accurate. The word used here, for “fitted together” (συναρμολογέω or sunarmologeō), means to properly sew together; to fit together; to unite, to make one. It is applied often to musicians who produce harmony of various parts of music. When the Bride of Christ is functioning in perfect harmony with itself, we are a song of worship unto His ears.

BY WHAT EVERY JOINT SUPPLIES: 
Literally, “through every joint of supply” - that is, which affords or ministers mutual aid

The word joint (ἁφή haphē, from ἇπτω haptō “to fit”) means anything which binds, fastens, and secures. This does not refer to the joint in the sense in which we commonly use it, as denoting the articulation of the limbs or the joining of two or more bones; but rather, that which unites or fastens together the different parts of the frame, i.e. the blood vessels, cords, tendons, and muscles. In other words: every such means of connecting one part of the body with another ministers nourishment, and the body is well cared for. One part is dependent on another. One part derives nourishment from another. Thus, all become mutually useful contributors to the support and harmony of the whole. Therefore, it furnishes an illustration of the connection in the members of the Bride of Christ and of the aid one can render to another.

ACCORDING TO THE PROPER WORKING: 
Greek for “according to the energy in the measure of each one part”

This means that each part contributes to, or labors for, the production of the whole result. This is in proportion to the measure of each part; that is, in proportion to its power. Every part labors to produce the great result. No one is idle; none is useless. Nevertheless, none are overtaxed or overworked. The support demanded and furnished by every part is in exact proportion to its strength. This is a beautiful account of the anatomy of the human frame. Please note the two key statements here:

• Nothing is useless. Every part contributes to the general result: the health, beauty, and vigor of the system. Not a single muscle is useless; not a nerve, not an artery, not a vein. All are employed, all have an important place, and all contribute something to the health and beauty of the whole, all are useful, and all minister life and strength to the whole. This is the perfect design of the Body of Christ. Each member is to function in the full capacity to which he is built. When one or more members do not, or will not, operate in the full capacity of their creation, they tax other Bridal members.

• None are overtaxed. Each part works according to the measure of their strength. Nothing is required of the minutest nerve or blood vessel, which it is not suited to perform; they will work on for years without exhaustion or decay. So it is with the Bride. There is no member so obscure and feeble that he may not contribute something to the welfare of the whole Bride. No one is required to labor beyond his strength in order to secure the great objective. Each one in his place and laboring as he should will contribute to the general strength and welfare of all. If not, he will only embarrass the whole and disarrange the unity of the system the Father designed for His Son’s Bride. If each of us, as Bridal members, functions in his full responsibility, we will increase the body’s strength for the work of edifying of itself.

BUILDING OF ITSELF IN LOVE:
In mutual harmony 

Once again, this refers to the body. Here, the meaning seems to be made on the principle of love. When the body is functioning in harmony and love with itself, there is no collision or disturbance of one part with another. The Bride of Christ cannot work in harmony with itself unless “love, which is the perfect bond of unity (holds it together)” (Col. 3:14, parentheses added).

Every member of the Bride of Christ should contribute something to the prosperity of the whole. Bridal members should no more be idle and unemployed than a nerve or a blood vessel should be in the human system. The human body loves itself; every minute nerve and artery of the body functions together in perfect harmony because they don’t fight who they are or their function. In simple terms, they love and accept each other. If the obscurest member may do something to destroy the health of itself, the body prepares itself for destruction. It is the same with the Bride. If a Bridal member refuses to love itself, it will decay and die. We first must love ourselves with the love of the Groom and then love other Bridal members with this same love.

The Father’s View of Marriage Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Next: Christ’s Bride No Longer Corrupt

#13 Divorce - Division by Force

#13 Divorce - Division by Force

by Dr. Stephen R. Phinney

"Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a Godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. ‘For I hate divorce,’ says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with wrong,’ says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:14-16).

I have received more “Christian persecution” from self-proclaimed “Christians” on this topic than any other. That is saying a lot for over 35 years of ministry. Since most “followers” of Christ prefer happiness over Truth, this topic is rated “most controversial and dangerous” to the modern church. Needless to say, and a surprise to all (not really), I am compelled to share the results of my study.

GOD MAKES IT CLEAR TO MALACHI

By the time God gave this Word through the prophet Malachi, His people were really messed up. They used the allowance Moses gave to divorce their wives to gain and fulfill their bodily pleasures. Here is the most likely reason why God hates divorce.

First, she is “the wife of thy youth” (Malachi 2:14, KJV). The husband had affections for his wife since her youth. This was when his feelings (first love) were the strongest. She was his first choice and with whom the man agreed to live with until death parted them. This is where our present pastors get the phrase “until death parts us.” Man didn’t necessarily take this covenant seriously, but God the Father did. The Father was challenging the Hebrew male children to return to their first love and keep the covenant they had made before God and man.

Secondly, she is “thy companion” (Malachi 2:14, KJV). She has long been an equal sharer with thee in thy cares, grief, and joys. The wife is to be looked upon not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband. He should freely converse and take sweet counsel with her, as with a friend, and in whose company he should take delight in more than any others. For is she not appointed to be thy companion?

Thirdly, she is “the wife of thy covenant” (Malachi 2:14, KJV) to whom thou art so firmly bound. While she continues to be faithful, thou cannot be loosed from her - for it was a covenant for life. It is the wife with whom thou hast covenanted and whom has covenanted with thee; there is an oath of God between you, which is not to be trifled with or played fast and loose with. Married people should often call to mind their marriage vows and review them with all seriousness, to make it part of the conscience of performing what they promised.

One of the primary issues with a Hebrew divorce is that of a man wasting the dowry price. When a man’s father paid the dowry price for a bride and the son did not steward this investment for his father by taking care of the family investment (the son’s bride), it was like a slap in the face of his father. When a son received the dowry price from his father to give to the father of the bride, it was a promise (with a price) to both fathers. First, it was to the father of the bride as a guarantee that his daughter would be cared for until death. Secondly, to the groom’s father, his son could be trusted with the fortunes of the father. Therefore, to divorce your wife was a significant gesture of distrust and irresponsibility to the fathers and the elders of the city. If a man granted a certificate of divorce to his wife, he was not to be trusted by other community members with the assets of the community as a whole.

To have dealt treacherously with the wife of a man’s youth was to defraud her. Affection was the evidence of the covenant of love and when a man spread his affection to other women outside of the marriage unit, it clearly communicated he was a man who wasted his seed, or investment, on self-pleasures. This was a sign of distrust. Keep in mind that the word trust is different in ancient Hebrew than the meaning given today. Trust was an accounting term used in finances; it meant to secure an investment (dowry). In modern times, the word has become a subjective term mainly used in a relational setting.

When Jesus was tempted (or tested), by the guilty men of divorce (the Pharisees), He would always take them back to “from the beginning.” Christ knew that proving the will of His Father, by man-made amendments of the Law, would give that man an excuse to use the Law to sin. By Jesus clinging to “from the beginning,” it gave Him the prerogative of clinging to the original design. He replied to the Pharisees in Matt. 19:8 (italics added), “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.” It put the full responsibility on their shoulders, like the veil that was draped over their left shoulder on the day of their covenant marriage. Man is quick to use the amendments of the original design to find an excuse. These points cannot be argued—due to the Law, but Jesus stayed focused on the original design, such as in Matt. 19:4-6 (italics added), “He answered and said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,’ and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH?’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’ ” This response is critical for us to gain a clear understanding of the passage in Malachi regarding God’s hatred of divorce.

Divorce has always been a negative and covert message of Christ forsaking His Bride. Christ said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5, NKJV). This statement was as if He was saying, “I will never divorce you. You are My Bride and I am your Groom and there is nothing you can do to cause Me to divorce you.” In the Christian world, we call this “security of Salvation.” In the book of Malachi, God the Father was telling His people that she is the wife of thy covenant; the Christian’s New Covenant with Christ is like-minded.

SATAN’S PURPOSE FOR DIVORCE

Now the big question: Why would the enemy push so hard for legislating divorce? Another simple answer is that if the enemy can break up the original design of “one woman + one man + one Father = one flesh, he would then be able to ingrain into the hearts of man that just maybe, One Father + One Son + One Spirit = One God, is a lie. Secondly, he would be able to convince the Bride of Christ of a possibility that Christ would forsake (divorce) them. Divorce is the human tool used by the enemy to try to break up the Trinity in the hearts of man. First, divorce needs to be viewed through the eyes of God and secondly, through history – man’s futile attempt to legislate lust! God, the Father, ordained the institution of marriage to set in concrete (for mankind) the fundamental Truth of One Father + One Son + One Spirit = One God.


Divorce - Division by Force Copyright © 2012 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact. 

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, public domain.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.