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The Apostle Paul's Revelation: A
Paradigm Diagram The Great Mystery is the United
Family of God in Heaven and on Earth For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and on
earth is named, Ephesians 3:14, 15 The Great Mystery is Divine Union
Biblically Represented as a Marriage For
the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
husbands in every thing. This
is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians
5:23, 24 & 32
Spiritual or Figurative Male and Female in this chart is not determined by the natural physical differences between males and females nor is it determined necessarily by inherent psychological differences. Spiritual or Figurative Male or Female pertains to the two basic collective spiritual functionalities in the body of Christ as would be patterned in a perfected husband wife relationship. Man specifically was created in the image of God so for Easterners, especially in western Asia Minor, who used functional realities to understand abstract spiritualities, understanding the apostle Paul's revelation of the great mystery by the familial relationship was simple. For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they
two shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians
5:31,32 The One Body of Christ I Corinthians 11:29, 12:27 On Family
Growth But
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ: Ephesians 4:15 The New Testament is a record of the growth of the family
of God from the baptism of Jesus Christ unto the death of the apostle Paul.
The book of Acts, in particular, recounts the growth of the family from
Peter's ministry unto the fulfillment of Paul's ministry when he wrote the
Ephesian letter. The thread of New Testament records about John Mark
from being the
disciple Jesus loved, through his tutelage under Peter in Jerusalem unto
being one of the few ministers with Paul at his end, depict the growth of a
saint. The Eastern familial growth is the pattern from
which Paul understood and figuratively communicated the spiritual growth of
the family of God. 1.
Mothers were solely responsible for
raising both male and female children until the age of five. (Modern child
psychologists' report that at five years old children begin to identify
themselves as either masculine or feminine.) 2.
From five until marriage, in the
children's early teens, both the father and the mother shared the
responsibility of raising their children. The father focused on the sons and
the mother focused on the daughters. It was during this time that household
servants or mature eldest sons participated in the education of children. 3.
When male children reached the age of
thirteen they became official family heirs, were considered then responsible
for their actions, jointly responsible to uphold the family traditions, and
eligible to marry. 4.
Marriage was usually between extended
family members or tribal members as with Rebecca and Isaac, and Rachel and
Jacob. 5.
The mother was central with the
development of her future daughters in law during their betrothal periods. 6.
When females married they became joint
heirs with their husbands. The husband's father became spiritually central to
the new couple as members of the clan. The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made
a marriage for his son, Matthew 22:2 The Great Mystery is the Mature
Divine Union of
the Saints from Heaven and the Faithful on Earth: Thus,
at His coming, the Answered Lord's Prayer See Also: The Corinthian Metaphors of Union: Women Keep Silence? Spiritual Representations of Divine
Union
in Eastern Betrothal and
Wedding Customs The
Apostle Paul's Great Mystery of Christ and the Church: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in
Christ Jesus: Ephesians 1:1 |
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