Paul writes to the church in Ephesians about the body of Christ – Eph 5:27 (AMP): “That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].“
The author is using two distinct words here to describe the bride He will be presenting to Himself – without or lack of SPOT or WRINKLE. But what do they mean? Simply that He will have her and/or her gown washed and ironed beforehand? The bible’s detailed answer may surprise you…
Lets look at the first word ‘spot‘ – the Greek is “spilos” which means: “a stain (spot); a moral (spiritual) fault or blemish.” But to understand its true meaning, we must go to the Old Testament, where the very first instance of the (Hebrew) word ‘mum‘ or spot is used – Num 19:2 (AMP): “This is the ritual of the law which the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, upon which a yoke has never come.” A yoke makes a spot/chafing on the neck of an animal when used often. The key to understand the first of the two character traits Jesus wants for His bride, is that she has never worn a yoke. More precisely – she has never worn a yoke of unrighteousness (2 Cor 6:14).
Now the second is ‘wrinkle’ and to understand this precious requirement, we must look at the ancient Jewish wedding custom of making a pocket or wrinkle in the bride’s dress the night before her wedding. The mother would sow a part of the wedding dress together to form a pocket/pouch in which the guests would deposit money during the proceedings. So the bride of the Price of Peace would never ever need anything more than what she already have in her eternal Groom.
