I have been married for a few days now, so I sort of consider myself an expert on marriage, therefore its time to start blogging about my wisdom.
Haha yeah right. I’m not so presumptuous, but I have been thinking about marriage and our relationship with Christ quite a bit. Elyse Fitzpatrick’s Found in Him has been helping me to do that
One of the metaphors that scripture uses to describe the church’s relationship to Christ is that the church is Christ’s bride. It’s a very powerful metaphor. Its packed and contains many many layers of meaning. Fitzpatrick takes us deeper into that metaphor in a passage that I enjoyed a lot:
Until recent times, everyone bore the name of his or her family of origin. The tradition of brides taking their husband’s last name is still carried on in America today, although it is fading away…. Because we are Jesus’ bride he has given us his name. (181)
Fitzpatrick goes on to say what this means for us:
Through marriage Jesus Christ bestows upon us his righteous reputation, but his new name we’ve been given is more than a superficial reputation pasted over a dirty face, or a diamond ring forced onto a filthy finger. Its an actual change in identity. We have his reputation. We have a reputation that is as if we had his character, and it is that character that is being worked in us. (183)
When someone gets married they take on the other person’s family, history, reputation and name. It includes the good and the bad. When we become the bride of Christ we take on all those same things, except this time its all good. That’s a wonderful truth to dwell upon.
CWoznicki Think Out Loud 