(5.) There is another similitude, by which our being united to Christ by faith, is more especially illustrated, taken from the union which there is between man and wife; accordingly this is generally styled, a conjugal union, between Christ and believers. Thus the prophet says, _Thy Maker is thine Husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel_, Isa. liv. 5. And the apostle, speaking of a man’s _leaving his father and mother, and being joined unto his wife, and they two being one flesh_, Eph. v. 31, 32. applies it, as was before observed, to the union that there is between Christ and the church; and adds, that _we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones_, ver. 30. which expression, if not compared with other scriptures, would be very hard to be understood; but it may be explained by the like phraseology, used elsewhere. Thus, when God formed Eve at first, and brought her to Adam, and thereby joined them together in a conjugal relation: he says upon this occasion, _This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh_, Gen. ii. 23. And we find also, that other relations, which are more remote than this, are expressed by the same mode of speaking. Thus Laban says to Jacob, _Surely thou art my bone and my flesh_, Gen. xxix. 14. And Abimelech pleading the relation he stood in to the men of Shechem, as a pretence of his right to reign over them, tells them, _I am your bone and your flesh_, Judges ix. 2. Therefore the apostle makes use of the same expression, agreeably to the common mode of speaking used in scripture, to set forth the conjugal relation which there is between Christ and believers.