The Serpent and the Bride

At the beginning of 2 Corinthians 11, Paul expresses his zeal for the purity of the church by comparing her to Eve in the garden. Just as our first mother was deceived by the serpent, so the Corinthian believers are being deceived by false teachers. Many of this morning’s readings and hymns explore images of marital fidelity as metaphors for the church’s call to holiness. The Call to Worship from Psalm 45 describes a royal marriage feast (in the explanatory text at the beginning of the psalm, it is called “a Love song”). We’ll also read several times from the book of Hosea, in which the prophet is married to an unfaithful wife. The church is called a “holy bride” sought by Jesus in The Church’s One Foundation, and again a “bride” that is holy and free from bondage in From Babel To Zion. Holy, Holy, Holy and Before The Throne Of God ascribe holiness to God—the Trinity is “perfect in power, in love, and purity;” the “risen Lamb” is perfect and spotless—while At The Name Of Jesus encourages us to ask Him to “subdue all that is not holy” in our hearts. Though Paul begins the chapter with concern for bridal purity, he concludes with a stirring condemnation of those who would violate or deceive: “Their end will correspond to their deeds.” Thus, the service concludes with I Know That My Redeemer Lives, with its rousing declaration that Jesus will “crush the fiends of hell,” and a benediction from Romans 16, which reminds us that He will “crush Satan under your feet”—just as He promised in the garden. —Henry C. Haffner