At 10:26 AM 2/14/98 -0600, Russell Maatman wrote:
>Briefly: In Genesis marriage is defined as the union of one man and one
>woman. In several places in the Bible, the church is described as the bride
>of Christ. In Ephesians, Paul teaches that human marriage is to be modeled
>after the church's relation to Christ. So God's plan of redemption itself
>is linked to the nature of marriage.
The conclusion here does not follow from the premises. One might be able to
say that, "The description of the church's identity itself is linked to the
*metaphor* of marriage," since that's what your biblical examples
illustrate. The relationship between Christ and the church is figuratively
expressed by reference to marriage. Paul elsewhere compares the church to
the physical body (I Cor. 12), but it would hardly follow that God's plan of
salvation is linked to the nature of physical bodies. There's nothing in
what you've cited here that justifies any conclusion about "God's plan of
salvation" or "the nature of marriage." It's a non sequitur.
That being said, I also want to indicate my appreciation for the time and
effort you took to post your thoughtful observations to the list.
Thomas D. Pearson
Department of History & Philosophy
The University of Texas-Pan American