May 10

“This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church.” Ephesians 5:32

God’s purpose in creating the Church is that she may be the help meet for Christ. He had said, “Let us make man in our image. . . and let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26). The same pattern is used in the following verse: “In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” So God created one man, but we might also say that in that act he created two persons. Eve was in Adam at his creation. However, it was by being taken from Adam that Eve was formed.

Now in a different but parallel sense, the Church is formed from Christ, and only that which originates with Christ can be the Church. The Church is the Christ in you, and the Christ in all the Christians around the world throughout all the centuries, put together in one. Without Christ, she has no existence, no life, and no future. But dare we not also say that without her—without you and me—he lacks the help meet for him?