INTRODUCTION:
We have already considered what headship is not, and earlier in our series on marriage we considered some aspects of headship. But here we need to take careful pains to understand what headship actually is, so that we might live out this understanding obediently.
THE TEXT:
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body (Eph. 5: 23).
OVERVIEW:
Note in this text that it says that the husband is the head of the wife, not that the husband ought to be the head of his wife. Obedience and disobedience on the part of a husband does not make him a “head” or “not a head.” He is a head regardless, but he can be an obedient head or disobedient head. He can be a head who tells the truth about Christ or a head who lies about Him. But silence is not an option. Notice that the husband is the head of the wife, in the same way that Christ is the head of His bride, the Church. This means that we may (indeed, must) learn about our marriages by looking to the ultimate marriage, the final marriage, the last marriage.
HEADSHIP IS FULLNESS:
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1: 22-23). In Scripture, headship does not mean a “stand-alone” autonomy. Headship is Trinitarian, bestowing fullness from above, and summoning fullness from below. The head fills the body, and the head is filled by the body. We have already considered this perichoretic aspect of the universe, but we have to recognize that this truth fills all things. By definition, it is no isolated concept.
HEADSHIP IS SACRIFICIAL:
This is the import of our text-as soon as the headship of Christ is mentioned over the body, it is immediately added that Christ is the savior of the body (v. 23). And how did He save the body? He did this by dying on the cross. And immediately after husbands are told that they are the head of their wives, the first point of direct application is found in v. 25. Love as Christ loved. No man every hated his own body. The head loves the body, by definition.
HEADSHIP IS AUTHORITATIVE:
Using the prerogatives of office (any office) in order to accumulate perks is rebellious headship, not obedient headship (Matt. 20:25-26). Godly authority is given to build up, and not to tear down (2 Cor. 10:8). Nevertheless, godly authority remains recognizably authoritative, although it must be continually emphasized (in this sinful world) that this is an authority that must have a servant’s heart and bleeding hands. “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing” (Eph. 5:24).
There is true authority here, but look at the sacrificial context. And as Christians, we should see that this is the only context for true authority.
HEADSHIP IS ICONIC
“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image (eikon) and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man” (1 Cor. 11:7). We see here a connection between a man’s physical head and God (and therefore Christ, his head). We see in this passage a connection between a woman’s physical head and her covenant head, her husband. Headship is iconic and therefore representative. Man and woman are therefore woven together by the ultimate and powerful bonds of metaphor.
Consider the pattern of the headship weave here. A woman’s head is related to the woman. The woman is related to the man, and so therefore the woman’s head is related to the man, her head. The man’s head is related to the man, and the man is related to Christ. The man’s head is therefore related to Christ. And Christ Himself has a head, who is God the Father. Christ is the eikon of the Father, man is eikon of Christ, and woman is eikon of man. This relates powerful to the second commandment-in a world full of images, we don’t need to make any.
HEADSHIP IS HIERARCHICAL:
Headship ascends to the ultimate place, and through the sacrifice of Christ, we see that headship stoops to the lowest place. The one thing it does not do is level everything. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3). In the world made by our triune God, both exaltation and humility are possible, and they go together. But the one thing excluded is a dull, androgynous flatness.
AND HEADSHIP IS COVENANTAL:
The apostle Paul teaches us that Adam was a type of the one who was to come, that is, Christ (Rom. 5:14). This idea of headship is right at the center of all this. Just as Adam lost his bride through his disobedience at a tree (along with all her children), so the last Adam won His bride through His obedience at a tree (and that redemption included all the barren woman’s children).
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:20-21).
The new covenant is everlasting, and will be eternally new when everything sinful has long since passed away. Not only is this the case, but the new covenant was operative for believers even during the times of the old covenant (Heb. 9:15). As we are being knit together with the Head, our Lord Jesus, we have to remember that we are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. His blood is for us, and for that reason we are saved.