By Charles Welch
The perfect man. Where Ephesians 2:15 and 4:24 use the word anthropos, “man,” Ephesians 4:13 uses the Greek word aner. These two words differ, anthropos means not only a man in the sense of a male, but any individual of either sex of the human species. It is a generic name. Aner means an adult male person, and never means a woman. Aner occurs 213 times in the New Testament and is translated “fellow” once, “husband” fifty times, “man” one hundred and fifty-six times, and “sir” six times.
Here are the occurrences of aner in Ephesians. It occurs seven times as follows:
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Eph. 4:13 Unto a perfect man, unto the measure.
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Eph. 5:22 Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands.
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Eph. 5:23 The husband is the head of the wife.
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Eph. 5:24 So let the wives be to their own husbands.
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Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives.
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Eph. 5:28 So ought men to love their wives.
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Eph. 5:33 See that she reverence her husband.
The apostle has used anthropos nine times in Ephesians, yet when he wished to speak of the Church as the perfect man, he goes out of his way to use a word that he uses six times afterwards for “husband.” It is, therefore, evident, if Scriptural language is accurate, that such a Church cannot be “the Bride,” for it would be incongruous to speak of a Church which is the perfect “Husband” as a “Bride.” By observing the distinction, a fuller conception of the purpose of the ages is gained. Just as at the beginning man was placed in a garden and provided with a wife, so in the realization of that typical fact, the Church of the Bride, will be associated with (but not confused with) the Church of the Body, the Church which is the perfect Husband. Those who see no other Church than the Bride are looking forward to a Paradise where “Eve” will have no companion. If it be objected “Christ is the Bridegroom,” we must remember that He also is “The Head of the Body,” and moreover, the Bride is never called the Bride of Christ, but the Bride of the Lamb.
From An Alphabetical Analysis Part 3 Terms and texts used in the study of ‘Dispensational Truth’ M to P by Charles H. Welch