Were we all logical and consistent, the recognition of three spheres of blessing would

suffice to save us from confusing "The Body" with "The Bride". But there is abundant

evidence that none of us is fully reasonable.  One effect of the fall is a darkened

understanding, and while, by grace, "the renewing of the mind" is going on day by day,

we too often "see men as trees walking". In accord with the title and object of these

articles, therefore we draw attention to the difference between "The Bride" and

"The Body" that must be recognized if we would distinguish between things that differ.

In the book of the Revelation the Bride is identified with the New Jerusalem, and to

any who realize the peculiar character of the Mystery, this, of itself, would be enough to

show her to be distinct from the Body of Ephesians. The Bride is called the Bride of the

Lamb and the Lamb's wife, yet the actual title "The Lamb" is never used in the Prison

Epistles, although it is nevertheless most blessedly true that the church of the Mystery is

saved by the same sacrifice and precious blood as is the Church of the Acts period.

Just as the "New" heavens and earth are linked with the present heaven and earth, and

just as the "New" covenant is connected with the old covenant, so the "new" Jerusalem is

nevertheless a new "Jerusalem", and, as such, has no connection with a calling which, at

the start, reminds those who are blessed, that they were once aliens from the

commonwealth (citizenship) of Israel.  Further, each gate of the New Jerusalem is

inscribed with the name of Israel, and its foundations contain twelve courses of stones

(twelve being the number of the tribes), which bear the names of the twelve apostles of

the Lamb. As I Cor. 15: 5-8 makes clear, Paul was not one of the twelve. Writing to the

Corinthians, the Apostle said:

Writing to the Ephesians, the Apostle takes the very word translated "husband" and

reveals that as the status and goal of the Church which is The Body of Christ.

The idea that we are not to take too much notice of the "mere" letter of the word, and

that the apostle could mix his metaphors as he pleased, will not do. A Berean knowledge

of the perfection, and therefore accuracy, of the language of inspiration, would prevent

the acceptance of such a slip-shod idea as that Paul could, in one Epistle, speak of the

Body as the perfect "husband", and, in another, of the same company, as a "chaste

virgin" "espoused to one husband". Further, the idea that the Ephesian position is merely

the "perfecting" of the Corinthian, as some teach from I Cor. 13: 9-13, is ruled out, for