The Church And Eve
Feature 3 – May 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine
The Church And Eve
The Bible is full of great love stories about the Lord searching for His people, who are often symbolized as a Bride brought to her Bridegroom. The first chapters in the Bible open with a river (Gen. 2:10), a tree (v.9), a man (v.8) and a bride (vv.18-24). Similarly, the last chapters in the Bible end with a river (Rev. 22:1), a tree (v.2), a man pictured as the Lamb (v.3) and a bride (21:9). The first story is a picture, or a symbol, of the last and eternal story. More specifically, the first bride, Eve, is a picture of the Bride of Christ mentioned in Revelation 21:9.
Who is the Bride of Christ? From Ephesians 5:25-32 we know the Bride of Christ is the Church, all believers in Christ from the day of Pentecost until the moment the Lord comes to take His people to Himself – commonly called “the rapture.” Between Eve in Genesis and the Bride of Christ in Revelation, the Bible is full of love stories that give us different aspects of the relationship between Christ and the Church. For example, Rebekah was brought from the family of Abraham and had to leave her original land to follow her husband, Isaac (Gen. 24). In type, she speaks of how believers must be separated from the world and its immoral values and follow our Lord and submit to Him. Additionally, Asenath, who joined Joseph in his glory as ruler over Egypt (Gen. 41), speaks of how the Church will join the Lord when He rules in His millennial kingdom. Ruth speaks of the Church being connected by grace to Christ our Redeemer, as Boaz redeemed Ruth (Ruth 4).
The pictures are many, but our focus in this article will be on the first bride, Eve.
She Took His Name
The Scriptures summarized the creation of mankind in this way, “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam” (Gen. 5:1–2 KJV). The Hebrew word for “man” is adam, meaning “mankind,” and it became the proper name “Adam.” That is why many modern translations of the Bible replace the name Adam with man or mankind in the previous verse. Note when God created both male and female, He gave them the same name, which was used for the bridegroom. That means the bride of Adam took his name. In the same way the followers of Christ identify with His name. They were called “Christians” (Acts 11:26), they pray in His name (Jn. 14:13-14, 15:21, 16:24,26), and in the future “His name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4 ESV).
A name is associated with the identity of a given person. Having Christ’s name gives the indication that we take our identity from Christ. We belong to His family (Eph. 3:14-15), we are blessed by God because of Him (1:3), and we live as His ambassadors because we carry His name (2 Cor. 5:20).
She Is A Different Creation
God formed Adam from dust (Gen. 2:7). However, Eve was unique because she was created from Adam’s rib (vv.21-22); she was a new creation. Likewise, all believers in Christ – the Church – are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). We should always consider this important teaching: we are a different creation, which means the Lord has broken our ties to the world. We do not need to, and should not, follow the culture and morals of the society in which we live. Rather, we must question everything in light of the Scripture.
Since Eve was created from the man, she is an extension of him and carries his DNA. The Bible tells us that we are born of God (1 Pet. 1:23; 1 Jn. 3:9) and that He gave us the privilege to “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). God’s plan for every believer is to be an extension of the Lord Jesus, carrying His attributes and reflecting His character in our daily lives.
Eve was not only an extension of Adam but she was also his wife, meant to fill the world with his image: his children. This was God’s plan for Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:28) and it is the Lord’s plan for the Church (Mt. 28:19). We are called to spread His eternal life by making disciples of all nations.
She Was Devoted To Her Man
You can argue that Eve had no choice but to love Adam, since he was the only man alive. But as a picture of the Church she represents the believers who see no master other than Christ. He is the One to admire and love. The Devil, however, uses the different attractions of the world to lure us away from Christ. In the early Church, Paul had this concern when he wrote to the Corinthians: “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). Let us keep our lives pure to honor the Lord Jesus.
She Was Flawless
Consider the moment when God brought Eve to Adam. This was before sin entered their lives and before the curse of death. She must have been very beautiful, with no wrinkles or signs of aging, since death was not there. On the other hand, if we think of the Church we can find many issues in our brothers and sisters: slacking in their service, lack of devotion to the Lord, and maybe even serious sins in their lives. However, Christ gave Himself for the Church, “so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). What an amazing fact to know that we are “without blemish” in the eyes of God! This applies to the Church as a group and even to every individual believer (Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:1).
She Was A Gift From God
Adam didn’t look for a wife or find Eve himself; it was God who made Eve and brought her to Adam (Gen. 2:22). The way Eve was brought to Adam made her very precious to him.
First, Adam had to be injured in his side to get Eve (v.22). In comparison, the Lord Jesus had to die and be pierced in His side to get the Church (Jn. 19:34).
Eve was hidden in Adam before her appearance. God had a plan to create male and female, but He started with Adam, and God knew that from him – his rib – He would create a woman. In the Epistle To The Ephesians, we read at least 20 times about being “in Christ” or “in Him.” God’s love to us is based on His love to Christ, and all the blessings we enjoy are based on the fact we are in Him.
Eve was made wholly for the man, Adam. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone (Gen. 2:18), and that is why God created Eve. We have to remember that the purpose for our existence is the glory of Christ. We are associated with Christ to honor and serve Him, not just to escape from eternal damnation. As the Bride of Christ we are the object of His love, as Eve was the object of Adam’s love.
The fact that God brought Eve to Adam made her very precious in Adam’s eyes because she was God’s gift. The Lord Jesus prayed to the Father about His disciples, saying, “Yours they were, and You gave them to Me” (Jn. 17:6). The value of any gift is associated with the generosity of the giver; this makes us honored to know how much God values us despite our weakness.
The Repeated Picture
The ultimate purpose of marriage is to model the relationship between Christ and the Church (compare Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31-32). The Devil is constantly seeking to destroy this picture because it is a great reminder of God’s love story. Every husband is a picture of Christ who died for the Church, thus he is commanded to love his wife and be willing to die for her; this is a very high standard. Every wife is called to honor her husband and submit to him, as the Church is called to submit to Christ. Knowing God’s great design gives a deeper meaning to any marriage and motivates us to glorify God in our families.
By Shereen Ghobrial
Words Spoken At A Wedding “Only in the Lord” was written in reference to marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:39 (KJV). It means that the Christian man must choose a Christian woman as wife, and the Christian woman must choose a Christian man as husband.
“In the Lord” means that you belong to the One whom you have believed, and you own His claims over you. You are His by right of purchase; He paid redemption’s great price for you that He might possess you. You belong to each other now for as long as life shall last; you are to know the joy of possession and of being possessed, but before you knew each other you belonged to the Lord Jesus your Savior, and you will not deny Him the joy of possession. His claim must ever stand first. It is divine, spiritual and eternal. He has given you to each other, but He has not and cannot surrender His rights to you; they are the rights of your God and your Redeemer. In putting the Lord’s claim first you will not be sacrificing your own happiness, but you will sanctify and prolong it, and guard it against that selfishness to which we are all prone and which can only spoil it. —Adapted from“The Lord And The Home,” STEM Publishing.