John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 5:32

"This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church." — Ephesians 5:32 (ASV)

This is a great mystery. He concludes by expressing his astonishment at the spiritual union between Christ and the church. This is a great mystery; by which he means that no language can fully explain what it implies. It is useless for people to trouble themselves to comprehend, by the judgment of the flesh, the manner and character of this union, for here the infinite power of the Divine Spirit is exerted.

Those who refuse to admit anything on this subject beyond what their own capacity can grasp act very foolishly. We tell them that the flesh and blood of Christ are presented to us in the Lord’s Supper. “Explain to us the manner,” they reply, “or you will not convince us.” As for me, I am overwhelmed by the depth of this mystery and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging both my ignorance and my admiration.

How much more satisfactory this would be than to follow my carnal judgment by undervaluing what Paul declares to be a deep mystery! Reason itself teaches how we should act in such matters, for whatever is supernatural is clearly beyond our own comprehension. Let us therefore work harder to feel Christ living in us than to discover the nature of that communion.

We cannot avoid admiring the cleverness of Roman Catholic theologians, who conclude from the word mystery (μυστήριον) that marriage is one of seven sacraments, as if they had the power of changing water into wine. They list seven sacraments, while Christ instituted no more than two; and to prove that marriage is one of the seven, they produce this passage.

On what ground? Because the Vulgate adopted the word Sacrament (sacramentum) as a translation of the word Mystery, which the apostle uses. It is as if Sacrament (sacramentum) did not frequently signify Mystery among Latin writers, or as if Mystery had not been the word Paul employed in the same Epistle when speaking of the calling of the Gentiles.

But the present question is: Has marriage been appointed as a sacred symbol of God’s grace, to declare and represent to us something spiritual, such as Baptism or the Lord’s Supper? They have no ground for such an assertion, unless they have been deceived by the ambiguous meaning of a Latin word, or rather by their ignorance of the Greek language. If the simple fact had been observed—that the word Paul used is Mystery—no mistake would ever have occurred.

We see then the hammer and anvil with which they fabricated this sacrament. But they have given another proof of their negligence in not attending to the correction that is immediately added:

But I speak concerning Christ and the church. He intended to give express warning that no one should understand him as speaking of marriage, so that his meaning is more fully expressed than if he had stated the former idea without any exception. The great mystery is that Christ breathes his own life and power into the church. But who would discover anything like a sacrament here? This blunder arose from the most profound ignorance.