{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/009/0090490.htm","path":"chr/ecf/009/0090490.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/009/0090490.htm","text":"17. Union of Christ and the Church.\nBut since the Apostle understands the words, \u201cAnd they twain shall be one flesh,\u201d 6176 of Christ and the church, 6177 we must say that Christ keeping the saying, \u201cWhat God hath joined together let not man put asunder,\u201d 6178 did not put away His former wife, so to speak\u2014that is, the former synagogue\u2014for any other cause than that that wife committed fornication, being made an adulteress by the evil one, and along with him plotted against her husband and slew Him, saying, \u201cAway with such a fellow from the earth, crucify Him, crucify Him.\u201d 6179 It was she therefore who herself revolted, rather than her husband who put her away and dismissed her; wherefore, reproaching her for falling away from him, it says in Isaiah, \u201cOf what kind is the bill of your mother\u2019s divorcement, with which I sent her away?\u201d 6180 And He who at the beginning created Him \u201cwho is in the form of God\u201d after the image, made Him male, and the church female, granting to both oneness after the image. And, for the sake of the church, the Lord\u2014the husband\u2014left the Father whom He saw when He was \u201cin the form of God,\u201d 6181 left also His mother, as He was the very son of the Jerusalem which is above, and was joined to His wife who had fallen down here, and these two here became one p. 507 flesh. For because of her, He Himself also became flesh, when \u201cthe Word became flesh and dwelt among us,\u201d 6182 and they are no more two, but now they are one flesh, since it is said to the wife, \u201cNow ye are the body of Christ, and members each in his part;\u201d 6183 for the body of Christ is not something apart different from the church, which is His body, and from the members each in his part. And God has joined together these who are not two, but have become one flesh, commanding that men should not separate the church from the Lord. And he who takes heed for himself so as not to be separated, is confident as one who will not possibly be separated and says, \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ?\u201d 6184 Here, therefore, the saying, \u201cWhat God hath joined together, let not man put asunder,\u201d 6185 was written with relation to the Pharisees, but to those who are superior to the Pharisees, it could be said, \u201cWhat then God hath joined together, let nothing put asunder,\u201d neither principality nor power; for God, who has joined together is stronger than all those which any one could conceive and name.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol IX: Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.: Chapter XVII","type":"page"}