In Ephesians 5:22-32 we see that Christ is the Husband of the church.
Verse 23 tells us that Christ is not only the Head of the church but also the Savior of the Body. His being the Head is a matter of authority, whereas His being the Savior is a matter of love. We must be subject to Him as our Head, and we must love Him as our Savior.
Verse 25 says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Christ’s loving the church and giving Himself up for her was for redemption and for the impartation of life. According to John 19:34, blood and water came out of the Lord’s pierced side. The blood was for redemption, and the water was for the impartation of life so that the church might come into existence. In Ephesians 5:25 we have the church coming into existence through Christ’s loving her and giving Himself up for her.
Paul says of Christ in verses 26 and 27, “He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.”
After the church has come into existence, the church needs to be sanctified. The process of sanctification includes saturation, transformation, growth, and building up. Although sanctification includes separation, the main aspect of sanctification is saturation. The church needs to be saturated with all that Christ is. Saturation is accompanied by transformation, growth, and building. Through such a process of sanctification with all these aspects, the church becomes complete and perfect.
Without separation, saturation, transformation, growth, and building, the church cannot be perfected and grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Only through an all-inclusive process of sanctification can the church become complete and attain to the measure of the stature of Christ’s fullness so that Christ can present a perfect church to Himself.
In verse 26 Paul says that Christ sanctifies the church by cleansing her through the washing of the water in the word. According to the divine concept, water here refers to the flowing life of God, which is typified by flowing water (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 7:38-39; Rev. 21:6; 22:1, 17). The washing of the water is different from the washing of the redeeming blood of Christ. The redeeming blood washes away our sins (1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14), whereas the water of life washes away the blemishes of the natural life of our old man, such as the “spot or wrinkle or any such things” (Eph. 5:27). In separating and sanctifying the church, the Lord first washes away our sins with His blood (Heb. 13:12) and then washes away our natural blemishes with His life. We are now in such a washing process in order that the church may be holy and without blemish.
With Eve in Genesis 2 there was no need of cleansing because in that chapter she had not fallen. Rather, she was pure and without mixture. Yet because we are fallen, contaminated, and defiled, we need to be cleansed. Many things in us must be purged away: the flesh, the self, the old man, and the natural life. Furthermore, we have many spots and wrinkles from which we need to be cleansed.
The cleansing by the washing of the water of life is in the word. This indicates that in the word there is the water of life, which is typified by the laver between the altar and the tabernacle (Exo. 38:8; 40:7). The Greek word rendered “washing” in Ephesians 5:26 means “laver.” This Greek word is used in the Septuagint as a translation for the Hebrew word for laver. In the Old Testament the priests washed themselves from earthly defilement in the laver (Exo. 30:18-21). Now the laver, the washing of the water, washes us from defilement.
As the priests in the Old Testament came first to the altar and then to the laver, so we come first to the cross to be saved, redeemed, and justified, and then we come to the Word to be cleansed. Day by day, morning and evening, we need to come to the Bible in order to be cleansed by the laver of water in the Word. By coming to the Word in this way, we are cleansed from the defilement we have accumulated in our contact with the world. Whenever we contact the world in the course of our human living, we need to come to the Word to be cleansed.
The washing in Ephesians 5:26 does not deal mainly with sins but with spots and wrinkles. Spots are something out of the natural life, and wrinkles are signs of oldness. Only the water of life can metabolically wash away such defects by the transformation of life. All the spots and wrinkles in the church will be washed away through the inner cleansing of the water in the Word. The more we come to the Word, the more we are nourished. The nourishment we receive brings about an inner cleansing from the defects caused by the natural life and from the wrinkles caused by oldness. We all need such an organic, metabolic washing to take away our defects and the marks of our oldness. As the church is washed organically and metabolically in this way, the church is renewed to be without blemish.
Such a washing takes place entirely by life and by the nourishment of life. Hence, we need to be encouraged to abide in Christ as the source of nourishment and to contact the Word to receive the nourishing element so that we may be washed organically and metabolically from all defects and oldness. By means of such a washing, the church will be perfected and become glorious.