Ephesians 5.23b-Jesus Christ is Head Over the Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday October 3, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:23b-Jesus Christ is Head Over the Church
Lesson # 378
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it a habit of voluntarily subordinating yourselves to your own husbands as each and every one of you as a corporate unit are voluntarily subordinating yourselves to the Lord 23 because the husband is head over his wife just as the Christ correspondingly is head over the church. He Himself caused the body to be saved. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:23 is composed of the following:
(1) hoti causal clause: hoti anēr estin kephalē tēs gynaikos (ὅτι ἀνήρ ἐστιν κεφαλὴ τῆς γυναικὸς), “because the husband is head over his wife” (Lecturer’s translation).
(2) elliptical comparative clause: hōs kai ho Christos kephalē tēs ekklēsias (ὡς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς κεφαλὴ τῆς ἐκκλησίας), “just the Christ correspondingly is head over the church. (Lecturer’s translation).
(3) Solemn emphatic declarative statement: autos sōtēr tou sōmatos (αὐτὸς σωτὴρ τοῦ σώματος), “He Himself caused the body to be saved” (Lecturer’s translation).
The hoti (ὅτι) causal clause asserts that the husband is head over his wife and the comparative clause asserts that the Christ correspondingly is head over the church while the emphatic elliptical declarative statement solemnly asserts that Jesus Christ Himself caused the body to be saved.
The hoti (ὅτι) causal clause presents the reason for the command in Ephesians 5:22, which required that the wives in the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia must continue to make it their habit of voluntarily subordinating themselves to their own husbands as they are voluntarily subordinating themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it asserts that the wives in the Christian community must continue to voluntarily subordinate themselves to their husbands “because” their husbands possess authority over them in Christian marriage just as Jesus Christ possesses authority over the Christian community.
The noun kephalē (κεφαλή) appears for the third and final time in this epistle (cf. 1:22; 4:15).
In Ephesians 1:22 and 4:15, the word is employed in a metaphorical or figurative sense and means “head” expressing the fact that Jesus Christ is the sovereign ruler over the church.
Now, here in Ephesians 5:23, the word again means “head.”
However, the referent of this word is the husband in Christian marriage expressing the idea that the husband is the authority over the wife in Christian marriage just as Christ is the head or authority over the church.
This word functions as the predicate nominative, which means that it is making the assertion that the husband is the head over his wife in Christian marriage just like Christ is the head over the church.
The noun gunē (γυνή) functions as a genitive of subordination, which indicates that Christian wives are under the authority or subordinated to their husbands in Christian marriage.
The apostle Paul not only mentions the husband’s headship over his wife in Ephesians 5:23 but he does also in 1 Corinthians 11:3.
This hoti causal clause is modified by a comparative clause, which not only compares the husband’s authority over his wife in Christian marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority over the Christian community but also presents the correspondence between the husband’s authority over the wife in Christian marriage and Jesus Christ’s authority over the church.
This indicates that the husband’s headship over his wife in Christian marriage corresponds to Jesus Christ’s headship over the church in that husband in Christian marriage must exercise his authority as Jesus Christ’s exercises His authority over the church.
Namely, by self-sacrificially loving his wife as Jesus Christ self-sacrificially loved the church when the latter was His enemy.
This love that Jesus Christ demonstrated at the cross on behalf of the church and the husband is to practice in relation to his wife, is divine love since it originates in the character and nature of the triune God.
In Ephesians 5:23, Paul employs the word Christos (Χριστός), which denotes the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth; thus, He is the Deliverer of the human race in three areas through His death, resurrection, ascension and session: (1) Satan (2) Cosmic System (3) Old Sin Nature.
The Lord’s Messiahship has a four-fold significance: (1) Separation unto God. (2) Authorization from God. (3) Divine enablement. (4) The coming Deliverer.
It also signifies the uniqueness of Jesus of Nazareth who is the God-Man.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός) signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served God the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The word signifies that Jesus of Nazareth has been given authority by God the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and authority over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan.
It denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.
Lastly, Christos (Χριστός) signifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.
As was the case in the hoti causal clause, Paul employs the noun kephalē (κεφαλή) in this comparative clause in a metaphorical or figurative sense and means “head” expressing the fact that Jesus Christ is the sovereign ruler over the church.
This word functions as the predicate nominative, which means that it is making the assertion that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head over the church.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:22, 3:10 and 21, the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) here in Ephesians 5:23 means “the church” and refers to the totality of Christian congregations or Christian assemblies throughout the Roman Empire and in heaven.
In other words, the word refers to the totality of Christians who have lived during the church age.
The articular construction of the noun ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) indicates that this congregation is a “unique” congregation because it is in union and identified with the unique theanthropic person of creation, Jesus Christ and is composed of both Jewish and Gentile church age believers who constitute the new humanity.
The noun ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) also functions as a genitive of subordination, which indicates that the church is under the authority or subordinated to the Lord Jesus Christ.
