Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
For—The propagation of the Church from Christ, as that of Eve from Adam, is the foundation of the spiritual marriage. The natural marriage, wherein "a man leaves father and mother (the oldest manuscripts omit 'his') and is joined unto his wife," is not the principal thing meant here, but the spiritual marriage represented by it, and on which it rests, whereby Christ left the Father's bosom to woo to Himself the Church out of a lost world: Ephesians 5:32 proves this: His earthly mother as such, also, He holds in secondary account as compared with His spiritual Bride (Luke 2:48-49; Luke 8:19-21; Luke 11:27-28). He shall again leave His Father's abode to consummate the union (Matthew 25:1-10; Revelation 19:7).
they two shall be one flesh—So the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, etc., read (Genesis 2:24), instead of "they shall be one flesh." So Matthew 19:5. In natural marriage, husband and wife combine the elements of one perfect human being: the one being incomplete without the other. So Christ, as God-man, is pleased to make the Church, the body, a necessary adjunct to Himself, the Head. He is the archetype of the Church, from whom and according to whom, as the pattern, she is formed. He is her Head, as the husband is of the wife (Romans 6:5; I Corinthians 11:3; I Corinthians 15:45). Christ will never allow any power to sever Himself and His bride, indissolubly joined (Matthew 19:6; John 10:28-29; John 13:1).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ephesians 5:31:
Psalms 45:1
Song of Solomon 5:1
Song of Solomon 6:13
1 Corinthians 6:16
1 Corinthians 6:17
1 Corinthians 7:2
2 Corinthians 11:2
Ephesians 5:22
Ephesians 5:29
Colossians 3:19
Revelation 17:5
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