Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:22b-The Father Gave His Son as a Gift as Head Over All Things For the Benefit of the Church

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, after I myself heard about the faith among each and every one of you in the one and only Lord Jesus as well as you are practicing divine-love, which is on behalf of each and every one of the saints, 16 I never permit myself to cease regularly expressing thanks to the one and only God because of each and every one of you. I do this while disciplining myself to make it my practice of remembering each and every one of you during my prayers. 17 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that the God, that is, the glorious Father of the one and only Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit, who is Jesus Christ, would cause each and every one of you to receive divine wisdom, specifically, divine revelatory wisdom provided by the one and only Spirit with respect to an experiential knowledge of Himself. 18 Namely, that the eyes of your heart are enlightened in order that each and every one of you would possess the conviction of what constitutes being the confident expectation of blessing produced by His effectual call, what constitutes His inheritance, which is characterized by glorious wealth, residing in the person of the saints. 19 Also, what constitutes being His incomparable, great power on behalf of each one of us who believe which is equivalent to the exertion of His sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome. 20 This He caused to enter into the state of being exerted on behalf of the incomparable Christ. Specifically, by causing Him to be raised out from the dead ones. Then, by causing Him to be seated at His right hand in the heavenlies 21 above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank, by no means only during this age but in fact also during the one certain to come. 22 In other words, He caused each and every animate and inanimate object to be placed in subjection under His feet. Correspondingly, He gave Him as a gift as head over each and every animate and inanimate object for the benefit of the church. (Lecturer’s translation)

Ephesians 1:22 contains two declarative statements.

The first asserts that the Father caused each and every animate and inanimate object in creation to be placed in subjection under His Son, Jesus Christ’s feet or in other words, under His authority.

The second asserts that the Father gave His Son, Jesus Christ as a gift as head over each and every animate and inanimate object in creation for the benefit of the church.

Now, the first declarative statement is epexegetical, which means that this statement explains in summary fashion the preceding statement in Ephesians 1:20b-21.

As we noted, this previous declarative statement in Ephesians 1:20b-21 asserts that the Father caused His Son, Jesus Christ, to be seated at His right hand in the heavenlies above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank.

Therefore, this indicates that when Paul asserts that the Father caused His Son, Jesus Christ, to be seated at His right hand in the heavenlies above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank, he means that the Father put each and every animate and inanimate object under His Son’s feet.

Now, as we noted, the second declarative statement in Ephesians 1:22 asserts that the Father gave His Son, Jesus Christ, as a gift as head over each and every animate and inanimate object in creation for the benefit of the church.

This statement corresponds to the previous declarative statement, which we noted asserts that the Father caused each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens to be under His Son’s feet or authority.

Therefore, this indicates that the Father causing each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens to be under His Son’s feet or authority “corresponds to” Him giving His Son as a gift as head over each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens for the benefit of the church.

These two declarative statements correspond to each other because both speak of the Father causing each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens to be under His Son’s feet or authority.

However, the second declarative statement asserts that it was also for the benefit of the church that the Father did this for His Son.

The clear implication with this second declarative statement is that Jesus Christ is head or the sovereign authority over the church and not just all of creation and every angelic and human being.

This is indicated by the fact that in the human body, the head and in particular the brain and the soul contained in the head controls the movements of the body.

“For the benefit of the church” is the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) and refers to the totality of Christian congregations or Christian assemblies throughout the Roman Empire and in heaven when Paul wrote this epistle in the first century A.D.

Ultimately, the word refers to the totality of Christians who lived during the church age.

The word designates the universal corporate body of Christians who lived throughout the Roman Empire living during the age of the Spirit.

This age began with the baptism of the Spirit in approximately 33 A.D. in the city of Jerusalem when Jewish individuals responded to Peter’s presentation of the gospel by exercising faith in Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior, which resulted in the Father declaring them justified.

This age will end with the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.

The articular construction of the noun ekklēsiais monadic indicating that the church is a unique congregation because it is in union and identified with the unique theanthropic person of creation, Jesus Christ.

The noun ekklēsia is in the dative case and is functioning as a dative of advantage or benefactive dative expressing the idea that the Father causing each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens to be under His Son’s feet or authority was “for the benefit of the church.”

The obvious benefit is that each and every animate and inanimate object in creation is under the authority of the church.

This is supported by the fact that Paul asserts in Ephesians 2:5-6 that the Father raised and seated the church age believer with His Son at His right hand.

Furthermore, in Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul asserts that the church is the bride of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Jesus Christ and His bride, the church have restored fallen humanity to rulership over creation, which was the Father’s original plan for created human beings (cf. Gen. 1:26-28).

By seating His Son, Jesus Christ and His bride the church at His right hand, and placing every animate and inanimate object under their authority, the Father restored humanity to its original position, namely rulership over the earth.

This restoration of humanity to rulership over the earth is prophesied about in Daniel 7:14.

Also, the title deed to the earth is mentioned in Revelation 5, which was sealed with seven seals, which no one moral rational creature in creation was able to open except Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1:26-30, Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2:7-8 teach that mankind was designed to rule over the works of God’s creation.

Adam was created and designed in the image and likeness of God in order that he might exercise sovereign authority over all creation.

Genesis 1:26 Next, God decreed let Us model man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Consequently, they will rule over the fish in the various bodies of water and over the birds in the earth’s atmosphere and over the animal kingdom and over the entire earth and over each and every creeper-crawler, those which crawl upon the earth. (Lecturer’s translation)

So Adam was created and designed in the image and likeness of God in order that he might exercise sovereign authority over all creation (Psalm 8).

The rulership of the creation was lost by Adam and the Woman in the Garden of Eden when they disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3).

Satan usurped the rulership of the first Adam over the earth when he deceived the woman into disobeying the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and getting Adam to do so as well.

However, the Last Adam, the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ has regained that rulership over the earth with His obedience to the Father’s will in going to the cross in order to suffer a substitutionary spiritual and physical death in the place of all of sinful humanity (Rom. 5:12-21; Hebrews 2:6-9).

That Satan is the temporary authority over the earth is indicated in that 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that he is the “god of this world.”

The Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the cross gained the rulership of the earth back for mankind according to Philippians 2:5-11 and Hebrews 2:9.

In Hebrews 2:6-8a, we have the record of God’s purpose for mankind decreed whereas in Hebrews 2:8, we have this purpose delayed due to the Fall and in Hebrews 2:9, 14 and 17 we have this purpose accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 8 and Genesis 1:26-28 both speak of the original creation and Adam and Eve’s rulership before they fell.

However, Paul in Ephesians 1:22 is applying the text of Psalm 8:6 to Jesus Christ as the last Adam.

Paul not only mentions the headship of Jesus Christ over all of creation and every creature here in the second declarative statement in Ephesians 1:22 but also mentions it in Colossians 2:10.

Colossians 2:8 Don’t stop making it your habit of watching out for anyone belonging to a group who would seek to take each one of you captive through empty, deceitful philosophy based upon the tradition produced by human beings, based upon the elementary teachings promoted by the cosmic system, which are by no means based upon the teaching originating from Christ. 9 The reason for this command is that in Him, the totality of attributes which compose the divine nature permanently dwell in bodily form. 10 Also, by means of your union and identification with Him, each one of you is made complete, who is the head over each and every ruler and authority. (Lecturer’s translation)