When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we literally become children of God and new creatures in Christ (Romans 8:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Collectively, we are called “the Church” (Matthew 16:18).

The Church is compared to many things including an army of soldiers, branches on a tree, a bride, a wife and the Body of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4; John 15:5; Matthew 25:1-13; Ephesians 4:11-13, 5:21-33; Romans 12:5). Even though not all of these analogies are literal, they all have something valuable to teach us about our role as Christians.

In regard to whether we are compared to Christ’s Body, wife or bride, we can say that we are compared to all of them! We should live like Jesus’ Body on the earth. We should submit ourselves to Jesus like a wife submits to a loving husband. And we should be ready for Jesus’ coming like a wise bride is prepared for her wedding.