Dr Paul Allen

Jesus giving the Farewell discourse to his eleven remaining disciples, from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308-1311. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John 17 “ Holy Father , keep them in your name, which you have given me, that  they may be one, even as we are one” (v. 11b). Our study of Matthew 18 now complete, we have seen how the church is to exhibit pastoral concern, guard the church’s holiness, and readmit to communion all those who, though they have broken fellowship, turn from their sins and seek restoration. Before returning to Matthew’s gospel , however, we need to look at the nature of the church in order to understand why discipline and forgiveness are needed to preserve the purity of the church.  John 17, which records the longest prayer in the New Testament , provides some of the most important teaching on the church. As we can see in this chapter, Jesus is concerned with the unity of His people, praying for His disciples and all those who come after them to be one in

Christ in Gethsemane (Christus in Gethsemane), oil painting by Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann (Heinrich Hofmann). The original is at the Riverside Church (Riverside Church, New York City). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the Bible , the supreme feminine image is ascribed to the church . Before the church is ever seen as mother, though, she is first revealed as a bride. In the Old Testament , the commonwealth of Israel is the bride of Yahweh . In the New Testament , the church is the bride of Christ . The resulting familial imagery is somewhat strange. God is the Father ; Christ is the Son. As the Son of God, Christ is then referred to as our Elder Brother. The church is His bride. In the language of family, this would then mean that the church is our sister-in-law. But no one speaks of holy sister-in-law church. We, both men and women, are given the title "bride of Christ." I am male, yet I am part of a body that is described in feminine terms. What is stranger is that the

Image via Wikipedia " Husbands , love your wives , even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." ( Ephesians 5:25 )   Much has been said in recent years regarding family roles and responsibilities. Suffice it to say that many either misapply or ignore what the Bible has to say. Perhaps the clearest passage on this subject is that surrounding our text ( vv. 21-33 ). Here we see, in a setting of "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God " ( v. 21 ), that the primary role of the wife is that of submission to her husband's headship ( v. 22 ), and that of the husband is self- sacrificial love for his wife ( v. 25 ). Here we have the only formula for a marriage fulfilling to both.   Family relationships were given special attention at the time of the universal curse on mankind ( Genesis 3:16 ); thus the God -given family roles, while not impossible to achieve, run contrary to our natures. Obviously, we can't succeed on our own.