Jerald Finney
Copyright © November 14, 2026

The reason a church should stay out of adulterous and harlot relationships with any entity such as the state or federal government is not to fight with or defy civil government. The reason is to honor the Husband of the church, Jesus Christ. Thankfully, unlike churches in many countries, a church in America who honors her Husband is obeying both the law of God and the law of man—the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and corresponding state constitutional provisions.

According to God, the main aspect of the church is her exalted relationship with Christ. She is married to the Lord Jesus Christ. She is the Lamb’s wife and God wants His wife to make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:7-8).

As the wife of Christ, a church is to be a holy temple for the habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22), is “one flesh” with Christ (Eph. 5:30-31); and is espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin (2 Cor. 11:2-4; Eph. 5:22-27; Rev. 19:7-10). She is to submit, be subject in everything, and reverence her Husband so that Christ “might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:22-33), not by the state incorporation documents and/or the rules and regulations a church agrees to abide by when she applies for tax-exempt status according to “26 U.S. Code § 501 – Exemption from tax on corporations, certain trusts, etc.” or claims such status through  “26 U.S. Code § 508 – Special rules with respect to section 501(c)(3) organizations” specifically, § (508(c)(1)(A).

Christ wishes to “present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). He wants to be the Head over all things to His wife (Eph. 1:22-23). “And he is the Head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18).

Christ is the perfect Husband of the church. He gave himself for the church and purchased the church with His own blood (Eph. 5:25, Ac. 20:28). Christ, speaking to the local church at Corinth and, by extension to all local churches, said:

• “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2-3).

“Espouse” means: “To marry; to wed; to unite intimately.”

Jesus, quoting from Genesis said concerning marriage,

• “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mt. 19:4-6).

There are many pictures of marriage in the Bible, starting with Adam and Eve. The perfect picture is presented in Song of Solomon.

The model depicted by most churches is presented in the book of Hosea. Hosea presents a picture of two broken marriages, and stresses the importance of marriage in God’s plans and purposes. God the Father was the Husband of Israel, His harlot wife” (See, e.g. Jer. 3, 31; Eze. 16:32-59, 21-24; Isa. 54).

The theme of Hosea is a plea to return to the LORD. “The story behind the prophecy of Hosea is the tragedy of a broken home. The personal experience of Hosea is the background of his message. He walks out of a broken home to speak to a nation from a heart that is breaking. He knew exactly how God felt because he felt the same way.”

Hosea, like the prophet Ezekiel, was made a sign to Israel. Whereas the LORD instructed Ezekiel not to mourn because of the severe judgments of his wife, Israel (Eze. 24:16, 23), the LORD instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a “wife of whoredoms” (Hos. 1:2-3), and to love and redeem his unfaithful wife to symbolize the LORD’s relationship with Israel (Hos. 3:1-3).

“Hosea is in three parts: I. The dishonored wife, 1.1-3.5. II the sinful people, 4.1-13.8. III. The ultimate blessing and glory of Israel. 13.9 – 14-9.” As He had done with many other writers in the Old Testament, God tells Hosea to plead with Israel to come back to Him (Hos. 2:1-13) and points out Israel’s sins for which He judged her (Hos. 4).

Marriage is foundational. God exalts marriage.  Men and women sometimes, and churches, almost always, do not exalt marriage. The results: the foundations are destroyed. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do” (Psm. 11:3)?

Churches, like Israel, would do well to take God’s messages concerning marriage to heart. They should strive to imitate the bride in Song of Solomon. See, The Love Relationship between Christ and His Churches as Depicted in Song of Solomon. Sadly, most churches in America follow the example of the wife depicted in Hosea.

Note. This article is an edited version of Christ’s Church: Chaste Virgin or Legal Whore? which explains in some detail man’s law and Bible principles regarding the husband/wife relationship between Christ and His churches as well as the false reasons given for church legal entity status.

As to “508” churches who claim that they are not 501(c)(3) tax exempt churches, see the book above or Church Internal Revenue Code § 508(c)(1)(A) Tax Exempt Status.