Head Over All

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

HEAD OVER ALL

Eph 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

The last truth in this passage is a biggie. When the term God is used, he must be referring to the Father because Christ, although he is God, is the Son and he did not place all things under his feet nor appointed himself as head of the church. In fact, in Greek verse twenty-two which starts with God in the English version, does not have the word Theos, but this is going back to verse seventeen when Paul uses the word Pateer, referring to the Father. Everything after that is then an act of the Father. Therefore, it is the Father who placed all things under the Sons' feet and appointed him to be head over everything in the church. Having worked through that we have come to the fact that Jesus has been given all authority over us, his body. Just as our head, our brain is in charge of our physical body Jesus is in charge of his body, us. Our body can do nothing other than what our brain tells it. Even now as our fingers are typing these words, they are fully under the power of our brain. Even the things we do not consciously think about using our body, it is still under the control of the brain, our heart beats, our lungs take in and expel air, our kidneys filter and send their works to the bladder, and on and on, many functions of our body are all under control of the brain. Thus, we must conclude that the church, which is us, should not be doing anything without our head, Jesus, making it happen. On the other hand, we the church, his body must also do everything the head, Jesus, tells us to do. We do wonder how exactly that plays out in the life of the church. Does that leave room for us to make decisions based on our wants and needs? Surely we can do what we want with the building we use to gather in, for that is just the building, not the church. Still, even that should come under the purview of Christ. So then, we should be careful and remember at all times, that Christ is the one who directs our lives, our moments, and our actions, on both the conscience and the unconscious level. When we consider that we are the fullness of him who fills everything in every way, we think about the whole of the universe. All the suns, stars, planets, and whatever, are under his control, under his feet, even this planet that we reside on was made by him for us. Therefore, when we become the church, when we become a member of the body of Christ, we complete the fullness of his authority, although he is still in charge of the world and all that is in and on it. But when we were not part of his body, we did things according to our mind's desire, however, now we have put that body to death and have been raised into his body, and therefore we have put ourselves under his headship, his Lordship, his leadership, and we should be doing what that head tells us to, and do nothing unless the head, Christ, tells us to. Perhaps, this is just in spiritual matters, but we think it might well be regarding all matters in our lives.