Click here to go to “Christ, the Bridegroom/Husband/Head of His churches“

1. According to the Bible, who desires to be the Bridegroom/Husband/Head of His churches?

2. Is the headship of a local autonomous New Testament church an important issue regarding the biblically described principle of separation of church and state? Please explain as thoroughly as you can at this point.

3. To understand how churches violate the biblical principle of the headship of Christ over His churches, one must apply the biblical ____________________ to the facts and to civil law—e.g., what is incorporation, what is Internal Revenue Code § _______(c)(3).

4. _______________ are called the bride of the Lamb.

5. ____________ is the bridegroom of the church: “Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the _________________, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the __________ is the bridegroom: but the friend of the ______________, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the __________________’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled” (Jn. 3.28, 29).

6. The New Testament speaks of a church as a virgin espoused to one ______________; Eve is a type of the church as ___________ and _________ of Christ:

• “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am _______________ over you with godly ______________: for I have espoused you to one ______________, that I may present you as a chaste ____________ to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the __________ beguiled Eve through his __________, so your minds should be corrupted from the ______________ that is in Christ. For if he that cometh ______________ another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another ____________, which ye have not received, or another _______________, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (The Holy Spirit writing to the church at Corinth in 2 Co. 11.1-4).
• “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become ________ to the law by the body of ___________; that ye should be _____________ to another, even to him who is _________ from the _______, that we should bring forth ________ unto God” (Ro. 7.4).

7. Paul likens the _____________ relationship of ______ and wife to the relationship of ____________ and His ______________:

“For the ____________ is the ________ of the wife, even as ___________ is the head of the ___________: and he is the ____________ of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto ______________, so let the wives be to their own ___________ in everything. ____________, love your ________, even as ___________ also loved the church, and gave __________ for it; That he might ____________ and ________ it with the washing of water by the _______.  That he might present it to himself a ____________ _________, not having _______, or ___________, or any such thing; but that it should be ______ and without __________.  For no man ever hated his own flesh; but _____________ and ________________ it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his ______, of his _______, and of his ________.  For this cause shall a man leave his ________ and ________, and shall be joined unto his ______, and they two shall be _____   ______.  This is a great ___________: but I speak concerning _________ and the ________. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his _______ even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence _____   __________” (Ep. 5.23, 25-27, 29-33).

8. The Lamb will marry _____  _______:

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great ____________, and as the voice of many _________, and as the voice of mighty ______________, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God ____________ reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give __________ to him: for the ______________ of the Lamb is come, and his _______ hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, _________ and ________: for the fine linen is the _____________________ of saints” (Re. 19.6-8).

9. All believers will be ___________ to Christ at the ____________ of the Lamb:

“But ye are come unto mount _______, and unto the city of the living _____, the heavenly ____________, and to an innumerable company of __________, To the general assembly and _________ of the firstborn, which are written in ___________, and to God the ________ of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  And to Jesus the ___________ of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of ________” (He. 12:22-24).

10. Various people in the _____ ________________ are types of _________, the Bridegroom, and the ________, the bride. For example, Rebecca was a type of the _________, the “called out” virgin _______ of Christ. Isaac was a type of the ____________, who loves through the testimony of the unnamed Servant: “Whom having not seen, ye ______; in whom, though now ye _______ him not, yet believing, ye __________ with joy ______________ and full of ________” (1 Pe. 1.8). Isaac was a type of the ____________ who goes out to meet and receive his bride:

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which ________ in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are ________ and __________ unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are _________. For the Lord himself shall ________ from _________ with a shout, with the voice of the ___________, and with the trump of God: and the ______ in Christ shall rise first” (1 Th. 4.14-16).

“Typically, the book of Ruth may be taken as a ____________ of the church—Ruth, as the __________ bride of Christ, the Bethlehemite who is able to redeem.”

11. The coming of the Bridegroom is cause for great rejoicing by the __________, the ______ of the Bridegroom: “He that hath the bride is ____  __________: but the friend of the __________, which standeth and _________ him, ____________ greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled” (Jn. 1.29).  The _________ of the Lamb to His bride will be a glorious event which will occur in _________, unlike the restoration of _________ which will take place on the earth:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the __________ of the _______ is come, and his ______ hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine _______, _______ and _______: for the fine ______ is the righteousness of ________. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the __________ supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, “These are the true sayings of _____” (Re. 19.7-9; see also Re. 21.9-22.17).

12. The husband is to be the only _______ of the wife, and Christ is to be the only ______ of His churches. See ______________ 5.23, 25-27, 29-33 quoted above. “And hath put ______ things under his _______, and gave him to be the _____ over ____ things to the church” (Ep. 1.22).

13. After Jesus was born, “there came ______  _____ from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, where is he that is born ______ of the Jews? for we have seen his ______ in the east, and are come to __________ him” (Mt. 2.1-2).  “‘The King’ is one of the divine titles (Psa. 10.6), and so used in the __________ of the Church (I Tim. 1.17), but Christ is never called ‘_______ of the Church.’ He is ‘________of the Jews’ (Mt. 2.2) and ______ and ‘______ of the Church’ (Eph. 1.22, 23)”

14. “Who is the ________ of the invisible God, the ___________ of every creature: For by him were all things _________, that are in ________, and that are in _______, _________ and _________, whether they be _________, or ___________, or ______________, or ________: all things were __________ by him and for him: And he is ________ all things, and by him all things _______. And he is the head of the body, the ________: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the ___________” (Col. 1.15-18).

15. Christ, likened unto a husband, because of His love for the church, gave _________ to ________ the church. He is, in love, sanctifying the _________, and will present the ________ to Himself as a _________ for His sacrifice and labor of ______, a glorious ________, not having _______, or _______, or any such thing, a perfect church without ______ or ________, “one _______ of great price” (Mt. 13.45-46).

16. Jesus is the Father’s _____-gift to the world. “For _____ so loved the __________, that he gave his only _________ _____, that whosoever ___________ ___ ____ should not _______, but have ___________  _____” (Jn. 3.16).

17. The ___________, the ________ ________, is His reward, given Him as a ______-gift by the Father. “As thou hast given him _______ over all flesh, that he should give ________ _____ to as many as thou hast given him” (Jn. 17.2). “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou ________ me out of the world: _______ they were, and thou ________ them me; and they have kept thy ______” (Jn. 17.6). “I pray for _______: I pray not for ___ _______, but for _______ which thou hast _______ me; for they are _______” (Jn. 17.9). “And now I am no more in the _______, but these are in the _______, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast _______ me, that they may be _____, as we ____. While I was with them in the _______, I kept them in thy ______: those that thou _______ me I have kept, and none of them is ______, but the son of ___________; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (Jn. 17.11-12). “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast _______ me, be with me where I am; that they may ________ my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou ___________ me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17.24).

18. Just as a bridegroom gives gifts to his earthly ________, so Christ gives gifts to His _______, to those whom the Father ______ Him:

(1) He gives His bride _________ ______: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give _________  _____ to as many as thou hast _______ him” (Jn. 17.2).

(2) ____  ______’s ______: “I have manifested thy ______ unto the men which thou _________ me out of the world: thine they ______, and thou _________ them me; and they have ______ thy word…. And I have declared unto them thy _______, and will ________ it: that the ______ wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them…. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (Jn. 17.6, 26; 20.17).

(3) The _______’s _______: “For I have given unto them the ________ which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me…. I have given them thy ______; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the _______, even as I am not of the ________” (Jn. 17.8, 14).

(4) His own j_______: “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my j______ fulfilled in themselves” (Jn 1.7.13).

(5) His own g________: “And the g_______ which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn. 17.22).

19. ________ God is preeminent for a ___________ and for a church. One does not ______ God by just asserting that he ________ God. Jesus said, “If ye ______ me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14.15) The greatest commandment is to ______ the Lord with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mt. 22.37; Mark 12.30; Lu. 10.27).

20. L______ is action. This ______ between Christ and His church is seen in the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon, “[p]rimarily, is the expression of pure marital ______ as ordained of God in creation, and the vindication of that ______ as against both asceticism and lust—the two profanations of the ________ of marriage. The secondary and larger interpretation is of Christ, the Son and His heavenly bride, the _______ (2 Cor. 11.1-4, refs.)” “Many waters cannot quench ______, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for _______, it would be utterly _________” (Song of Solomon 8.7). “___________” means “despised, scorned, slighted, neglected, or rejected with disdain” (AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, NOAH WEBSTER (1828), definition of “CONTEMNED”). God despises, scorns, slights, neglects, or rejects with disdain all that a church does, whatever professions of ______ she makes, if those acts and/or professions are without ______. A church who does not _______ Christ as a wife is to _______ her bridegroom and her husband, by remaining ______ and ______, does not display ______for the Lord. Thus, _______ ones neighbor by witnessing to him, sending missionaries to him, helping him materially or any other way in obedience to the second commandment—“Thou shalt ______ thy neighbor as thyself”—is vanity in God’s eyes if one ignores the greatest commandment. The ______ of the temporal—e. g., worldly organization, ownership of property, worldly power and prestige, etc.) by a church infringe the total _______ (charity) which Christ desires of his churches.

21. This fact is also articulated in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus is _________ over His church.  If we do not ______ the Lord Jesus, He despises all the “Christian” ______ we do and the _______ we put in the offering plate. “Though I speak with the _________ of men and of angels, and have not _________, I am become as sounding _______, or a tinkling _________. And though I have the gift of __________, and understand all _________, and all ___________; and though I have all _______, so that I could remove __________, and have not _______, I am _______. And though I bestow all my goods to feed ____ ______, and though I give my ______ to be burned, and have not _________, it __________ me nothing” (1 Co. 13.1-3). “__________” speaks of God’s kind of ______. “In a theological sense, _________ “includes supreme ______ to ____ and a universal good will to ______. 1 Cor. xiii. Col. iii. 1 Tim. i” (AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, NOAH WEBSTER (1828), definition of “CHARITY”). ______ is an act of the will. A church refutes its proclamations of ______ for the Lord when it wholly or partially takes the church from under the ___________ of her Husband, the Lord Jesus Christ or operates in any manner which is contrary to the ____________ for a church given in _____’s word.

______ “[r]ejoiceth not in __________, but rejoiceth in the _______” (1 Co. 13.6). Iniquity means “__________, unrighteousness, … [w]ant of rectitude [rightness in principle or practice], … a ____ or ______; wickedness…” (AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, NOAH WEBSTER (1828), definitions of “INIQUITY” and “RECTITUDE”). Bible truth makes clear that the ______ of Christ for His church is immense, that He wants to be the only ______ and __________ of the church who is likened to His _______ and _____, and that for a church to even partially put herself under or associate with another entity is a great ____________ and _______________ all professions of ______ for the Lord. As is shown in Section VI of God Betrayed (online version or link to PDF) and Separation of Church and State/God’s Churches: Spiritual or Legal Entities? (online version or link to PDF), the church who ______________ and secures a _____(c)(3) tax exemption commits wicked sinful acts in violation of ____________ principle, and rejoices in ________ by putting herself partially under _____ other heads (the _______ of incorporation and the _______ government),.

22. The Lord Jesus gave a warning to the church at _________:

“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are ______: and thou hast tried them which say they are __________, and are not, and hast found them _______: And hast borne, and hast _________, and for my name’s sake hast ___________ and hast not _________. Nevertheless, I have ___________ against thee, because ______ ______ ______ _____ ________ _______. Remember therefore from whence thou art _________, and ________, and do the first ________; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy ___________ out of his place, except thou ________” (Re. 2.2-5).

23. As Dr. J. Vernon McGee teaches us, this warning was for every church who has lost her love for the Lord Jesus:

“It was a warning of danger of getting away from a personal and ________ relationship with Jesus Christ. The real test of any believer, especially those who are attempting to serve Him, is not your little method or mode or system, or your dedication, or any of the things that are so often emphasized today. The one question is: Do you ______ Him? Do you ______ the Lord Jesus? When you ______ Him, you will be in a right relationship with Him, but when you begin to depart from the person of Christ, it will finally lead to _______________. The apostate church was guilty of _______________. It may not seem to be too bad, but it is the ________ condition that anyone can be in. A great preacher in upper New York state said: ‘Twenty __________ Christians hurt the cause of Christ more than one blatant __________.’ A ___________ church is a disgrace to Christ.”

24. As the Lord Jesus Christ is __________ over His churches, so should pastors and church members be __________, with a godly ____________, over the church they belong to, just as Paul was: “For I am __________ over you with godly ________: for I have espoused you to one ___________, that I may present you as a chaste _________ to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his __________, so your minds should be corrupted from the ______________ that is in Christ.  For if he that cometh preacheth another _________, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another _________, which ye have not received or another __________, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Co. 11.2-4; Lu. 18.8; 2 Ti. 3.1-8).

25. What makes a “church” a two-headed (or three-headed) monster and why taking any head over the church except the Lord Jesus Christ negates all else that they say and do.