基督与教会的一幅完整图画（接上篇）
创世记二章二十四节指明，男人和他的妻子乃是一体。我们不该把丈夫和妻子当作两个分开的人，乃该当作一个完整的人，当作一个完整单位的两半。丈夫和妻子是一个完整的单位，这是一幅美妙的图画，说出基督与教会乃是一个实体。
因为在受造的宇宙中没有基督的配偶，神就使基督死在十字架上。当祂睡在那里，祂的肋旁裂开，有血和水流出来（约十九34）。在创世记二章，罪的难处还没有进来，所以那里只题到从亚当身上取下肋骨，一点也没有说到血。但是约翰十九章说到那解决罪之难处的血。水表征基督涌流的生命，就是那产生教会的永远生命。这生命也由肋骨所表征。按照约翰十九章，当主在十字架上时，祂的骨头一根也没有折断。这应验了经上所说的（诗三四20）。基督那没有折断的骨头，表征基督那不能毁坏的永远生命。因此，亚当的肋骨表征基督那不能毁坏的永远生命。教会乃是以这永远的生命建造成为新妇，就是为基督所豫备的配偶。这新妇被建造，基督就为自己得着教会作祂的配偶。
我们已经指出，夏娃和亚当有同样的生命和性情。这表征教会与基督有同样的生命与性情。不仅如此，正如夏娃和亚当实际上有相同的形像，教会和基督也有同样的形像。再者，夏娃和亚当在身量上也极其相似，这指明教会和基督有一样的身量。
请享受生命诗歌217首 (点击诗歌名）
A Mysterious Type of Christ and the Church (2) – Gen 2:23-24
Genesis 2:24 indicates that a man and his wife are one flesh. We should regard a husband and wife not as two separate persons, but as one complete person, as two halves of a whole unit. A husband and a wife as a complete unit are a marvelous picture of Christ and the church as one entity.
Because there was no counterpart for Christ in the created universe, God caused Christ to die on the cross. As He slept there, His side was opened, and blood and water came forth (John 19:34). Because in Genesis 2 the problem of sin had not come in, that chapter mentions only the rib that was taken out of Adam; it says nothing about blood. But John 19 speaks of blood, which solves the problem of sin. The water signifies the flowing life of Christ, the eternal life, which produces the church. This life is also typified by the rib. According to John 19, not one of the Lord’s bones was broken when He was on the cross. This was a fulfillment of the Scripture which said, “Not a bone of him shall be broken” (Psa. 34:20). The unbroken bone of Christ signifies Christ’s unbreakable eternal life. Hence, Adam’s rib typifies the unbreakable eternal life of Christ. It is with this eternal life that the church is built up as the Bride, the counterpart prepared for Christ. In this building up of the Bride, Christ gains the church as a match for Himself.
We have pointed out that Eve had the same life and nature that Adam had. This signifies that the church has the same life and nature that Christ has. Furthermore, just as Eve had virtually the same image as Adam, so the church bears the same image as Christ. Moreover, in stature Eve was very nearly the same as Adam. This indicates that the church has the same stature as Christ.