'...the biblical theology of marriage is much nearer to typology than metaphor. Israel "is" God's bride in quite a different way than she "is" his vineyard (Isa 5:1,7). It is not the eschatological destiny of the church to enter into the final consummation of what it means to be a grapevine, but it is her destiny to be truly her husband's bride (cf 2 Cor 11:2).'
John Richardson, What God has made clean....if we can eat prawns, why is gay sex wrong? p.25.
