The Church is not "The Bride of Christ"

For many years we have heard that the Church is "The Bride of Christ" but it's not true

Issa Thread

The bible says "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.
Revelation 21:9 KJV

The next verse says

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 21:10 KJV

While there is a "lamb's wife, the bride of Christ", it is not the church.

Revelation 21:9-10 clearly states that the "the bride, the Lamb's wife" is the Holy Jerusalem.

Revelation 19:7 KJV
says "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."

Again, this lamb's wife, the bride of Christ cannot be refering to the church! If the church is "the bride of Christ," then the Christian has to do something to get "herself ready." This requires "works" to be done by the Christian to get ready.

The Word says that we are already made righteous and are already sanctified. So then, the church, in God's eyes, is already ready. 

If the Church were "the bride, the Lamb's wife," then the angel in Revelation 21:9-10 would have shown "the Church," not the Holy Jerusalem.

Jesus did not teach that his body is also his bride. Paul didn't teach it either. The Bride of Christ is a City

Christians are repeatedly called "sons of God," "the body of Christ," and "the church" throughout the New Testament but are never called "The bride of Christ."

Currently, the main teaching regarding the "Bride of Christ" is that she is the church and must make herself ready. This teaching is inconsistent with the entire Pauline Revelation of the Gospel of Grace.

Follow me closely on this, why do i say it's inconsistent?

Because of the free gift of grace, we are already righteous and without spot nor blemish in the Lord's sight.

We are already ready! it stands to reason that the church can't be the one "getting herself ready." The "Bride of Christ" then must refer to something or someone else!

The "bride" must refer, not to the church, but to the Holy Jerusalem, just as the Word of God says in Revelations 21:9-12.

There are some scriptures that I've been used to refer to the Church as the bride of Christ which is definitely not what the passage is talking about.

Ephesians 5 from verse 20 is an example. People have read this and thought the Church is the Bride.

This Passage is simply a comparison of ouroneness with Christ. The verses i highlighted says That We are His body! That's the mystery paul was showing us

Another one is Mathew 22:1-14.

The bride is not the subject of this story, the guests are.

The commonly accepted interpretation of this parable is that the guests represent the church

how can the guests be considered the bride? So the guests can't be the Bride of Christ

Another one is Mathew 25:1-13 This passage didn't say that the ten virgins are the groom's wife. They are only guests trying to get into the wedding.

So the ten virgins being guests can't be the bride or representing "The Bride of Christ".

This story of the ten virgins is about being ready to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven. How is that done? By accepting Jesus as our Lord.

There are other scriptures people try to use to say The Church is the Bride of Christ but they are wrong

One of the things The "Bride of Christ" teaching does is that it takes away from us God's grace and gift of righteousness.

We then become all about works. The Galatians were all about works. What did Paul say to those Galations? Who hath bewitched you?

Another thing the "Bride of Christ teaching does is that it devalues our authority and position in Christ. Being in his body is much more powerful than simply being his bride.

For example, Your wife is limited in her authority over you because she is a separate person.

It's not that way with the body of Christ. He gave us all of His authority as kings and priests in the earth. We are his body. We have His authority in the earth. That authority is the Word of God He gave us to hear, believe, speak, and live by.

So ladies and gentlemen the Church is The Body Of Christ and not The Bride Of Christ