Description
Last episode we dug a bit deeper into some of Jesus’ teaching on leadership and what that was to look like in his new community of believers. We will now continue on this theme and discuss what authority is to look like in the Body. We will look specifically at the concept of “headship” and how this terminology, if not understood within a biblical context, will lead to hierarchical structures in the Church, exactly what Jesus warned against.
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Video Script
Episode 4: Headship Revisited
Last episode we dug a bit deeper into some of Jesus’ teaching on leadership and what that was to look like in his new community of believers. We will now continue on this theme and discuss what authority is to look like in the Body. We will look specifically at the concept of “headship” and how this terminology, if not understood within a biblical context, will lead to hierarchical structures in the Church, exactly what Jesus warned against.
Authority and Headship
If you have your workbook, you can turn to pages 12-16 for this episode. As we have seen, the problem is not really the one of authority in the Church, it is how that is used, and often abused. So often in church history we have witnessed leaders in the church not look and act much different than the world, or for that matter the same way the religious leaders of Jesus’ day functioned.
In Episode 2 we began this discussion regarding headship in the Body and I would like to follow up that up a bit here. It is crucial that our minds are renewed in this area so that we do not use our gifts to abuse others or for our own ego. What is leadership to look like in this new community of believers? Remember I introduced the Greek word, kephalē , which is used in the New Testament and translated as “head” in English. As we saw, kephalē can literally refer to the upper part of the human body, you know that part that sits on our shoulders. While this is the literal meaning in many languages, it also has a figurative meaning. However, unlike in English, as well as in some other modern languages, the figurative meaning of “head” in Greek does not mean chief, boss, authority, ruler.
Let me give you an example. Translators of biblical texts usually do not use direct word equivalents for terms for which there are different contemporary meanings. For example, many translators no longer use the word bowels, as the King James Version did in Philemon 7, 12, 20 and 1 Jn. 3:17. Today, its literal meaning is often nonsensical or even rude, so the original Greek word is usually now translated as heart, not bowels, as this is closer to the meaning of the original word. The word head is similarly problematic when translated literally, for its original meaning differs substantially from current contemporary usage. As can be shown from the biblical text itself, the real meaning has more to do with origin, starting point, and nurturer. It can be better understood as fountainhead or life-source, kind of like we would use the phrase in English “headwaters of a river,” to describe the source of the water. In the case of the river example, we do not interpret “headwaters” to mean boss or chief river, merely beginning point, origin, or supply .
Why is this important? We will discover that it can subtly shift our understanding of how the fivefold gifts of Ephesians are to operate in this new community. Is the application that Jesus has delegated little “headship” to all leaders in the Church?
Can you think of other words whose meaning has changed over time and so are no longer used in common conversation?
So let’s take a quick look at some other New Testament passages where we find this word kephalē to see if we can get some clarity. Let’s begin by looking at Ephesians 1:22-23:
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
It is clear that the resurrected Christ has authority over ALL things, they are under his feet. He was appointed to be the “head” of the Church—it’s origin and source. Verse 23 provides insight as to what is the purpose of His headship. Christ as head supplies the body with “fullness,” and fills everything. He provides nurture for its growth and completion. Let me be clear, in my discussion here I am not disputing his authority over everything, including the church, that is undisputable from the entirety of Scripture. But in the original language, the nuance here is that he is the Source of his Church.
The construct of kephalē hyper which would have the meaning of “head over” does not seem to exist in Greek literature. If kephalē was to be used as “authority over” then it should have incorporated the preposition epi. However, the construct kephalē epi is also nonexistent in Greek literature. This would lead to the natural meaning that “over everything” signifies he is the ultimate truth. His function to the church is defined as the “head” who supplies the church with his own fullness; he nurtures her for her own growth and completion. In his headship, he is the source of life and increase for the Church.
If you would like to go deeper into the linguistics and compare and contrast positions by different theologians you can check out an exegetical study which I have compiled. This was done as a supplement to our marriage seminar regarding biblical gender roles and you can get this as a free download in the description box below.
Other Relevant Passages
Let’s continue our study of “headship” by looking at our passage in Ephesians 4. In verse 15-16 Paul writes,
“. . .we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Here the concept of head as “fullness and growth” is developed again. Christ provides all that is necessary for the knitting together of the Body and is the source of its growth. The function of the head is to provide life, cohesion, and growth. While it is true that Christ rules over all creation, here the Greek structure does not really allow for the meaning of rulership, as related to the meaning of headship. Just in case you are getting a bit nervous, Let me again emphasize that I am not questioning Jesus’ authority, in Creation or his Church, that is clear throughout Scripture. But as the servant King, he is perfect in character and so knows how to perfectly exercise authority without being authoritarian. This is not the case with the rest of us. My point here, in preparation for my further comments on the application of the fivefold ministry, is that from these passages the emphasis is not on position and power but source and origin.
This is a bit beyond our scope in this series—something I cover in greater detail in our marriage material—but in order to show how our theology on leadership and authority should apply consistently, let’s quickly look at Ephesians 5:21-24.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
I am fully aware I am deep into the minefield now, particularly since I don’t have time to get into this in great detail here, but if you can go to our The First Team, materials and the accompanying Exegetical Supplement I take a deeper dive there. But let me say this. To be theologically consistent, the context of these verses is the preceding verse 21, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is the starting point for verses 22-24. Understanding mutual submission, it is obvious that Paul cannot be violating Jesus teaching on authority with each other as believers—and yes I believe this includes the marriage relationship.
You can see the problem of interpreting “headship” in marriage as ruler or boss. If in the original language construct “headship” means Christ is the boss, then it would make sense the husbands is to be the ruler of his wife (by the way, let me know how that words out for you). I have found that even those who think they need to abide by this theology, never really live it out in practice. At least not in a way that causes their wife to blossom. Besides the practical considerations from the linguistic study, we know that this violates all sorts of other scriptures. Contrary to what some teach, Paul is not establishing another hierarchy here, with Christ at the top, followed closely by man and then woman. And no I am not just reading into the text my western culture. This was as counter cultural in practise at the time, as it is in most of our cultures today, something I have noticed as I have taught this around the world. However, with “headship” here in the original language meaning “source or nurture,” then it makes sense and is consistent with the rest of Scripture and does not violate Jesus’ teaching on servant leadership.
The principle has to be consistent within all of our relationships. It seems incredulous that we are to function as servants in the community of believers, and then as authoritarian bosses in our home. In my estimation, those who hold this view, thinking they must in order to abide by biblical commands, struggle to be consistent with Jesus’ teaching and the rest of Scripture in this regard. This misplaced theology I believe actually weakens our witness in the world. In responding to the angry assaults on the traditional family, Os Guinness notes that perhaps this is due to “. . .the rotten fruit of Christians corrupting the beauty and strength of the ‘covenantal family’ of the Bible into the hated ‘hierarchical family’. . .”
Verses 25 and 29 actually reflect the servant ministry of the Savior. Paul explains that husbands were to love and give themselves to their wife just as Christ did for his bride, the Church. The consistent motif is of Christ as the source or nurturer. If the passage was about rulership it would have been the perfect time for Paul to clarify just how a husband was to “rule” over his wife, rather than “loving” and “giving himself up” or “serving” her. Being a scholar and master of Greek, he could easily have done just that. Rather, it seems an unusual literary construction for Paul to use the servant role of Christ as an argument for wifely submission, but it makes sense within Paul’s context that submission is the proper response to servanthood for everyone. This sounds much more like servant leadership than power based rulership. In every relationship it is about servanthood not boss-hood. While we may have different functions, I am not sure we can justify all of these due to gender.
“Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” precedes this in verse 21 and indicates that the Church is submitted to Christ in response to Christ’s servanthood to her. In the same way wives submit to their husbands means in response and with mutual submission to the husband’s self-sacrificing love for their wives. Rulership and positional power in the context of the Body of Christ, as well as in the marriage relationship I might add, cannot be squeezed from this text. If you disagree with me, I would encourage you to do your own study and discover what interpretation fits with all of Scripture. Okay, I went down a bit of a rabbit trail there, but what I want us to see is that this principle has a direct impact on the application of the fivefold ministry giftings.
Consider how an understanding of mutual submission will impact all of our relationships in the community Body. How do we apply this in our family and in our leadership?
Christological Passage
In Colossians 1:17-19, the literary structure is almost identical to Eph. 5:23. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Again, the immediate context provides the definition of headship, as opposed to reading our own meaning from our contemporary language back into the text. Christ is the source of cohesion, since he holds all things together in verse 17 and then in verse 18, he is the source of the church’s life since he is the starting point.
In this great Christological passage of Colossians 1:15-20 we see a pre-existent Christ and his servant ministry in his death and resurrection. Headship is again mentioned, but again the focus is that He is the beginning. As I have said before, I am not denying or diminishing Christ’s Lordship in any way! Rather, I am pointing out that from the language used, we can gain a proper understanding as to the meaning of “headship.” Why is this so important? I believe this shift in understanding is important so that we do not make incorrect applications to Christian leadership. We often like to use spiritually sounding titles—you know apostles, prophets, pastors—but we have to careful that we are not superimposing worldly leadership attitudes on these titles. Does leadership in the church use different titles, but still function by “lording” position over others? Let me state the obvious, there is no hierarchy in the Triune Godhead and Jesus’ example of servant leadership is to be our model in this new Kingdom.
As we wrap up this episode, let me circle back to Paul’s analogy of the body in 1 Cor. 12:14-28. In verse 21 he lists the “head” as just one of the parts of the body, like the hand or foot. Which again, linguistically, is a bit odd if the writer is trying to communicate “headship” meaning a boss or ruler. Then what is really interesting in verse 28 is how Paul changes the fivefold list that he wrote in Ephesians to a threefold list of first, Apostles, second, Prophets, third Teacher and then others. Now as a teacher I like this list, I moved up from fifth place in Ephesians to third place here! Shows how quick I can become vain, when it comes to lists, eh? But the real point is that if these were to be a set hierarchical structure, being the scholar that he was, Paul would clearly have not mixed up the order or the gifts the way he did between these two epistles.
Comparing scripture with scripture leads us to the conclusion that Paul’s inconsistency was not a mistake. At the very least we can conclude that he was not establishing a normative positional order for the fivefold functions. All this seems to indicate that he saw these gifts as functions rather than hierarchical positions. I believe that this is also consistent with Christ’s ministry in his Church as a function rather than mere positional authority. The head-body relationship is reciprocal . Because Christ is the source of the church’s life, in response the Church serves him in loving dependency, recognizing him as the source of life. These gifts are to function in and through us by his Spirit, who lives within each believer.
I realize that the implications of this approach is quite profound. As we continue our study of the fivefold gifts being on the same page regarding leadership and authority will be very important. Taking it one step further, servant leadership has to apply to every sphere of life for it to be a universal truth and consistent.
Is your theological position regarding headship, leadership, and authority consistent or does it lend itself to violating Jesus’ teaching on servanthood?
Okay, next time I am going to wrap up this foundational section by placing the fivefold gifts firmly within a Christological framework. Having done my fair share of building, I know foundations are seldom exciting—important, but not exciting. The last few episodes and the next one are the foundation from which we will look at the fivefold ministries within the context of a New Testament church in the 21st Century. Hang in there with me, it’s going to be worth it!