I do not agree with you at all that the passage could mean anything other than what the scholars are claiming. The "Bride of Christ" language always uses the word "bride" because this mirrors the "Bride of God" language of the prophets when used to describe Israel. I even looked, and looked, and found one place where the word "wife" is used in Revelation, but it's a bad translation, because the Greek original uses "bride" and not "wife" there as well. I then followed all those passages in the Coptic and they are uniform in the use of "bride". There is a very good reason, too - the relationship between Christ and His Church is ever fresh and new, always a celebration and a feast; he is forever the bridegroom and the Church is forever the bride. The "honeymoon" never ends.