required “mutuall consent” among both parties.^127 Union was the initial connection
while communion was the ongoing relational experience and enjoyment of that
union.^128 Owen asserts the distinction, “[o]ur communion, then, with God consisteth
in his communication of himself unto us, with our returnal unto him of that which he
requireth and accepteth, flowing from that union which is Jesus Christ we have with
him.”^129 Clearly for Owen spiritual marriage includes both the rich gifts of salvation
and also the experience of love, “[h]ow few saints are experimentally acquainted with
this privilege of holding immediate communion with the Father in love!”^130 A further
reminder of the reciprocal nature of this communion is, “Christ having given himself
to the soul, loves the soul; and the soul having given itself unto Christ, loveth him
also.”^131 One recognizes the important reciprocal nature of godly marriage, that it
finds an echo in spiritual marriage.
King deepens the awareness of spiritual marriage with Christ as he unfolds
four consequences that include mutual delight between Christ and the spouse,
cohabitation that is necessary to preserve the friendship, mutual bearing of one
another’s burdens, and mutual adhering and cleaving to one another.^132 In his final
point he refers to one of Bernard’s sermons on the Song of Songs.^133 King introduces
a very significant theme in the first consequence of mutual delight. He observes that
the satisfied soul delights in Christ by contemplation of his person and beauty as
(^127) Preston, Churches Marriage (^) , 8-9. cf. Owen, Communion with God, 8.
(^128) On the nature and dynamics of communion with God see Packer, Quest for
Godliness 129 , 201-18 and Kapic, Communion with the Triune God, 20-46.
130 Owen, Communion with God, 8. cf. Flavel, Method of Grace, 151^
131 Owen, Communion with God, 32.^
132 Owen, Communion with God, 118.^
133 King, King, Marriage of the LambeMarriage of the Lambe, 26. The reference is t, 17-26.^ o SCC 31.