The Church

Ephesians 5
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Christ is The Head of The Church because he is the faithful husband.The Church is The Body of Christ because The Church is The Bride of Christ.

24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—

The Church is radiant because she reflects the glory of Christ.

30for we are members of his body.
The Church is The Body of Christ because The Church is The Bride of Christ.
31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Christ and The Church are one.

The Church is The Body of Christ because The Church is The Bride of Christ.

Christ and The Church are one.

The Church the foundation and pillar of truth is because Jesus is the foundation and pillar of truth.

The Church is the joy of the whole world because Jesus is the joy of the whole world.

The Church is eternal because Jesus is eternal.

The Church is glorious because Jesus is glorious.

Christ and The Church are one.

Ephesians 1:22
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Christ and The Church are one.

1 John 4:17
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him

The Church and Christ are one.

1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

We will also see how The Church really is as well because The Church and Christ are one.

I Corinthians 3
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 11:7
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

As Christ is the glory of The Father, The Church is The glory of Christ.

Ephesians 1:4
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

The Church is eternal.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Church is eternal.

1 Corinthians 2:7
No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

The Church is eternal.

2 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

The Church is eternal.

Titus 1:2
a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,

The Church is eternal.

1 Peter 1:20
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

The Church is eternal because Christ is eternal.

Christ and The Church are one.

Ephesians 1:18-2:6
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 2
Made Alive in Christ
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

So God rose Christ from the dead and seated him in the heavenly realms and God has risen us from the dead and seated us in the heavenly realms.

Christ and his Church are one.

Christ and The Church are one authority.

Matthew 22:44
" 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."

Ephesians 1:22
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

Romans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Christ and The Church are one.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Matthew 25:45
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Acts 9
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.

"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.

Jesus takes any attack on The Church personally.

The reason is simple. Christ and The Church are one.

Now The Church has a priesthood and here it is.

1 Peter 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Revelation 1:6
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 5:10
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

These are the only references to The New Covenant Priesthood in the New Testament. It is the only New Covenant priesthood.

Under the old covenant you could only be a priest if you were from a priestly family. Under The New Covenant this is still true. By blood covenant we are of the family of Christ and he is The High Priest therefore we are priests.

These are some sacrifices of The New Covenant priesthood.

Ephesians 5:2
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual] act of worship.

As John 4:23-24 says
23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth

Hebrews 13:16

Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

None of these sacrifices are a matter of ritual but a matter of lifestyle.

Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from useless ritual, so that we may serve the living God!

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

One preisthood of believers and all equal.

Jesus loves The Church.