Is the Church both the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ? Some believe the Church is the Bride of Christ. Yet that term is never used in the New Testament. In Revelation the bride who is the wife of the Lamb is used (DRA):


  And there came one of the seven angels, who had the vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying: Come, and I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. (Rev 21:9)


Obviously Jesus Christ is the Lamb, but John's calling of Him as "The Lamb" seems to be referring to Him as John the Baptist did and is looking at the day when Israel is married to Christ. This would explain why John also refers to the bride as "the wife." 1

Paul states the Church is the Body of Christ (Romans 7:4, 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:27) and in Ephesians seems to make the same statement using the analogy of marriage:


  Being subject one to another, in the fear of Christ. Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord: Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the saviour of his body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. (Ephesians 5:21-24)


According to Roman Catholicism is Paul's example of marriage in Ephesians the basis for the Bride of Christ and if so is the Church both the Body and the Bride of Christ?




1. If Revelation is used as the basis for the term "Bride of Christ" it is incomplete. If Christ replaces the Lamb, the correct term would be "The Bride, the Wife of the Lamb." Since John is purposeful to include both terms, his purpose should be preserved.
I think the big 3 (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism) generally teach that both the images of the Church as the bride and body of Christ are both valid and instructive. Here is a statement from a Greek Orthodox church (The Church: Procedures for Becoming a Member of the Orthodox Christian Church):


  The close association between Christ and His Church is reflected in
  the images from the Scriptures which declare that Christ is the Head
  and the Church is His Body, and that Christ is the Bridegroom and the
  Church is His bride. These images express the reality that the Church
  does not exist independently from Christ.


The image of the Church as the body of Christ is fulfilled as the Church does the will of Christ in the world. The Church carries out the instructions of Our Lord as the members of a body do what the head commands (at least this is what is supposed to happen).

The reality of the Church as the bride of Christ is fulfilled in the Eucharist as the members assemble and partake of the body and blood of the Lord.