NN

To Cheryl (comments #13 & 15) – on the authority of Christ.

Whether you believe that during His earthly life Christ had intrinsic authority [due to His deity] or only extrinsic authority as granted Him by the Father, you would agree (as far as I can tell) that He had authority during His earthly ministry and now has all authority. (again whatever its origin; after all, all right human authority is also granted by God)

Therefore, Christ – Bridegroom of the Church has ALL authority… Whether His authority was intrinsic or given Him by the Father (just as any authority which we rightly possess must be) is immaterial to the question of whether He had authority. I don’t see how you can possibly construe this to support your idea of ‘Christ – our Bridegroom – being without authority.’