The Image of the Church
They're many images used to describe the church to help us as believers understand our role and function in the world. The church is described in scripture as the Body of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” This indicates a mutual dependency. We all need one another. This also connects to the different roles and giftings that the Spirit has given us. When all of the members are working together we work as one unit or body. There is to be unity in the body of Christ (Eph 4).
The church is also described as the Bride of Christ (Rev 19:17). This implies a number of things. First that the bride, the church, is to be preparing herself for a coming wedding ceremony. This preparation happens as we experience sanctification and carry out the work of the church. It also shows that the bride is meant to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ who is the groom. It is also a reminder that in the Hebrew tradition the groom leaves to prepare a room for the bride. Jesus is preparing a place for us and when the time is here he will return to take us home. In John 14:3 Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
The other image that Jesus used to describe the church is one of a vine and branches. In John 15:5 Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” This verse shows the necessity of believers to depend on Christ so that we might receive life from him and be about the things that he is about. In the verse before, Jesus said, “the branch cannot bear fruit by itself.” The church can do nothing good on her own. It is only through the power and provision of Christ that we can actually enact good in the world.