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The Bride of Christ as The New Jerusalem
As discovered in Revelation 21:9-11, the only clear identification of the Bride of Christ in the New Testament refer to the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. This would agree with the many Old Testament images depicting Yahweh God as being wed to biblical Israel.

With reference to the identification of the Bride of Christ as the Church, the following comments may be made:

It should be noted that the purpose of Ephesians 5 is to describe the unity Christ has with “his body”, which is compared to the unity between a husband and wife. The point is not that the church is the bride, but that the church is united with Christ.

In Romans 7:4, the Greek word translated by the KJV as “married” is actually “to become” or “to belong to” and is used nowhere else in scripture to mean “married”.

Referring to 2 Corinthians 11:2-4, it is seldom noticed that 2 Corinthians 11:1 states clearly that Paul considers these verses to be an act of “foolishness”. That is, he is being imaginative in order to make a point about the church’s dedication to God. He may not be saying that the church is literally the Bride; he is certainly demonstrating the folly of a church that is unfaithful to her Lord.

The only clear designation of the identity of the Bride of Christ in the Bible is found in Revelation 21:9-11, where she is identified with the New Jerusalem:

“9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” (NIV)

If the Bride of Christ is the New Jerusalem, it becomes difficult to also claim that the Bride is the Church. Thus, despite its long tradition, the claim that the Bride of Christ is the Church may not be a proper interpretation of the biblical concept.