II. The Headship of Jesus Christ
At the top of the organizational chart is our Lord Jesus Christ, who holds the highest and maximum authority in the Church. He is the head of the Church. God the Father gave Him supreme authority over the Church when He gained the victory of the angelic conflict. He gained this victory by paying the price for every sin of every human being in human history. He died a substitutionary spiritual death for every person that has ever lived. For this, and for much more, obviously, He is absolutely worthy of all praise, glory and honor we give Him:
ü Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. Revelation 4:11
Paul taught His headship by means of the “head and body” analogy in a number of passages: One of these passages is Ephesians 1:22-23:
ü And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23 NASB
As Head of the Church, Jesus Christ has supreme authority over the Church and all of its functions.
The word order in this verse is important because it underscores the fact of our Lord as our ultimate authority. A more literal translation from the Greek reads like this:
ü Him He gave as Head over all things to the Church.
Our Lord is strongly emphasized here.
The word “gave” is δίδωμι DIDOMI, in the aorist, active, indicative, third person, singular meaning, “to give.” The Father gave Christ to us, not only as our Savior and Lord, but also as our Head, our supreme Ruler: individually and us collectively as a local Church. The word, “head,” κεφαλή KEPHALE in the Greek, means that in terms of rank He is far above all things. He is the ultimate in superiority. Obviously, He is superior to us, He is God!
ü The first implication that we can draw from His headship over us is His authority over us. After all, we are: His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
Paul further delineated His authority over us in Ephesians 1:20-21:
ü …which [power] He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Ephesians 1:20-21
The second implication of Headship is the fact of our union with Him. We studied this in quite a bit of detail in our Sanctification study. Because we are in union with Him, we share everything He is and does. The implications of this are staggering! We share His eternal life, righteousness, son-ship, heir-ship, royalty, election, and destiny of Christ, and other factors as well.
The third implication of His headship is that we are always connected to Him. This implies a certain intimacy, as does our union with Him. The Head and body are always connected with nothing coming between the two. Or else the body would cease to be the body, and the Head cease to be the Head.
The phrase “gave…to the Church” indicates in the Greek that our Lord’s rulership is for our special advantage. This is a dative of advantage. There is no greater advantage than being under the Lord’s authority.
Paul also wrote of our Lord’s authority to the Colossian Church
ü He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the Church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Colossians 1:17-18
The phrase, “before all things” in the Greek is πρό πᾶς PRO PAS. Because the proposition, PRO is followed by PAS in the ablative case, Paul’s meaning is made plain: Christ’s precedence deals with time, because He preceded everything, having existed in eternity past before anything was created. This phrase also deals with His preeminence as Creator. He is before all things in that He is superior to all things. A better translation from the Greek is this:
ü And He Himself (great emphasis on He) is (implying divine essential being) before all things.
Since He is before all things, He preexisted time. So He is from eternity. His headship refers to two factors: He is ruler over the Church and over each individual within the local Church. As the Supreme Ruler of the Church, He has delegated authority to and given instruction in the Scripture, which He has designated as His very thinking: “mind or thinking of Christ.” Now this makes a lot of sense to me. If I owned a business, I would put, in written form, exactly what I want done and how I want it done. This is what our Lord has done, down through the ages. He has delegated the authority to communicate this instruction, His Word in the local Church to the pastor-teacher, a man with the spiritual gift of doctrinal communication.
Earlier in the Church Age, apostles carried the highest authority in the local Church. Actually apostles were over many local Churches, but the spiritual gift of apostleship was withdrawn when the Cannon of Scripture was completed. It doesn’t exist anymore. There, then, are no authorized layers of authority between the Lord and the pastor of the local Church. Many denominations are plagued by layers of authority between His and the pastor which interferes with Biblical pastoral authority. Every Church is designed to be autonomous before the Lord, each pastor teacher responsible to the Lord for his congregation.
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