AND HE PUT ALL THINGS IN
SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET: kai panta hupetaxen (3SAAI) hupo tous podas
autou, : (Genesis
3:15;
Psalms 8:6-8;
91:13;
1 Corinthians 15:25-27;
Hebrews 2:8)
Put in
subjection (5293)
(hupotasso
from hupo = under + tasso = arrange in orderly manner)
(Click
word study on
hupotasso)
means literally to place under in an
orderly fashion. Appropriate to the present context
hupotasso
as used in secular Greek was a military figure
meaning to line up under, place or rank under. The
aorist tense
speaks of an effective
action in the past. When did this subjection occur? Paul says it is
after Christ was resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father.
In the
active voice
(God is the subject and
one produces the action)
hupotasso
means to subject, bring
under firm control, or subordinate. The
indicative
mood
simply means that this was an actual event.
It really happened in time and eternity. God the Father
subjected all things to the authority of God the Son.
Hupotásso
meant that troop divisions
were to be arranged in a military fashion under the command of the
leader. In this state of subordination they were now subject to the
orders of their commander. Thus, it speaks of the subjection of one
individual under or to another.
Hupotasso
was also used to describe
the arrangement of military implements on a battlefield in order that
one might carry out effective warfare!
All (3956)
(pas) all without exception.
The truth in this
verse had its germination some two thousand years prior to the
Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection of Christ, Moses recording God's
decree of defeat (and subjection) of Satan...
And I (God) will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He (Eve's seed
ultimately the Messiah) shall bruise you on the head, and you shall
bruise him on the heel (which is what happened to the heels of those
crucified as they repetitively pushed to lift themselves up in order to
move their diaphragm and move air into their air starved lungs)." (Genesis
3:15)
Under (5259)
(hupo) means literally in or into a position below or beneath
something. The
common Greek term frequently meant not simply to be beneath but to be
totally under the power, authority, and control of something or someone.
Adam lost his headship over Creation when he sinned. Christ was made
Head over all Creation
Feet (4228)
(pous) To put
or subdue under one's feet means to make subject to someone, an allusion
to the ancient manner of treading down or putting the foot on the necks
of vanquished enemies as Paul emphasizes the certainty of God's ultimate
victory over Satan writing...
And the God of peace will soon crush
Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (See
note
Romans 16:20)
(Comment: There is a clear allusion here to the primeval promise
of Genesis
3:15, which prophesized
the final victory of Christ over Satan. In the meantime, believers, who
also in a sense are the woman's seed (Revelation 12:17), can achieve
local victories over Satan and his wiles by resisting him "steadfast in
the faith" (1Peter 5:9). If we resist him with Scripture as Jesus did,
testing and refuting his enticements therewith (Matthew 4:4, 7,10), then
he will "flee from you" (James 4:7), just as he did from Jesus, "for a
season" (Luke 4:13). The ultimate victory over Satan will be won
only by the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns.)
Writing to the
Corinthians Paul explained that the Lord Jesus Christ...
must reign until He has put all His
enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He
says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He (God the
Father) is excepted Who put all things in subjection to Him (the Lord
Jesus Christ). (1Cor 15:25-27) (Comment: Note that this
statement in no way implies that the Son is inferior to the Father, but,
when death is conquered at the end of the
Millennium,
then all things will be under the administration of the triune God.)
AND GAVE HIM AS HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE
CHURCH: kai auton edoken (3SAAI) kephalen huper panta te ekklesia: (Eph
4:15,16;
1 Corinthians 11:3;
Colossians 1:8;
2:10,19)
(3:21;
Matthew 16:18;
Acts 20:28;
1 Timothy 3:15;
Hebrews 12:22-24)
Gave (1325)
(didomi) give. Not
merely set Him over the Church, but gave Him as a gift. The
aorist tense
speaks of past completed
action.
Head (head)
(kephale) speaks of authority and was commonly applied to
many people in authority, but to none without governing authority (king
of Egypt called head, general of army = head, Roman emperor = head).
Christ is over them all over the church.
Over (5228)
(huper) refers to a degree
which is beyond that of a compared scale of extent. It means more than, to a
greater degree than, beyond, over and above, beyond. Adam lost his
headship over Creation when he sinned, Christ was made Head over all
Creation
All (3956)
(pas) all without exception. Paul refers to the cosmic rule
of Christ and implies that Christ is sovereign Head over all
things.
Church (1577)
(ekklesia from ek
= out + kaleo = call) means literally the called-out ones. It was
used in secular Greek of the assembly of citizens called out to transact
city business. “Body of called out individuals” refers to the invisible
Church, composed of only saved individuals. There are many individuals
sitting each Sunday morning in church (a building) who sadly have never
received Christ as the Head of His body the mystical church (a
living spiritually dynamic organism).
John Walvoord
in his series in Bibliotheca Sacra on "The Present Work of Christ"
writes the following summary regarding the church...
A new work of God,
namely, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is that which forms the new
entity. The Holy Spirit is the active agent in the formation of the body
of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), and the Father is said to participate in the
undertaking by placing Christ as the Head of the body (Eph. 1:22).
Christ does not form the body, but is, nevertheless, the source of its
life and the One Who directs its activity. In keeping with this
doctrine, the Spirit regenerates the individual believer with the same
eternal life which abides in Christ (John 10:28; 1John 5:11-12). The
time of the formation of the body of Christ is properly traced to the
Day of Pentecost when, for the first time, the baptism of the Holy
Spirit took place. According to Acts 1:5, Christ declared on the day of
His ascension,
“John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be
baptized in [by] the Holy Spirit not many days hence.”
The expression
“in the Holy Spirit” is the instrumental use of the en and is properly
translated “by” or “with.” The expression is identical in meaning to
that found in 1Corinthians 12:13. Up to this time there is no
indication in Scripture that the Holy Spirit had ever baptized
believers. All the references in the Gospels are prophetic of the
future. Though Old Testament saints were born again and in individual
cases indwelt by the Spirit, there is no Scriptural revelation prior to
the Day of Pentecost of binding believers together in a living union
comparable to that of the church. There were saints in the Old
Testament, that is, holy ones, but not believers baptized into the body
of Christ. What the Scriptures teach is that a new entity is now being
formed beginning on the Day of Pentecost. (Walvoord, John: The Present
Work of Christ - Part III. . Bibliotheca Sacra. Vol 121, #
483 Dallas Theological Seminary)
F B Meyer
writes that...
THE CHURCH IS A BODY OF WHICH CHRIST
IS HEAD. (Ephesians 1:22) We repeat such words without emotion now; but
there was a time when they could not be uttered save at the cost of much
that men hold dear. It is as if we were passing over a battle-field,
once raked with shell and soaked with gore; or were handling a banner
torn and ragged, around which the conflicting foemen fought for half a
day. Let us not forget the brave hearts that were harried to death amid
the heather and gorse of Scotland, rather than confess that any but
Christ might assume this august title.
The Church, as a whole, must take its commands for suffering or warfare
from no other lips than Christ's. Whatever course may be dictated by
expediency, policy, or human leadership, she dare not move until Christ
gives the signal. But if He bids her advance, protest, or suffer, she
has no option but to obey. Though every voice that can reach her may be
raised in expostulation and warning, she dare heed none but his.
This position of our Lord is as much for each member of the Church as
for the whole Body. Because as in the natural body each several muscle,
nerve, and vein, as well as the more prominent members, have direct
double communication with the head, from which they derive their unity,
direction, and energy; so in the spiritual Body of which Christ is head,
there is not one single redeemed spirit that is not connected directly
with its Lord. It would not be in the Church at all if that relationship
had not first been formed. We are related to one another, only because
we are related to Him. We are first members of Christ, then members of
each other in Him. First Christ, then the Church.
Each member is united to the head by the afferent nerves that carry
impressions from the surface of the body to the head; and there is
nothing which happens to any one of us which is not instantly
communicated to our Saviour. In all our affliction He is afflicted; He
bears our griefs and carries our sorrows; He is touched with the feeling
of our infirmity. The glory with which He is surrounded does not act
like an insulating barrier to intercept the thrill of pain or joy that
passes instantly from the weakest and meanest of his members to Himself.
Each member is united to the head by the efferent nerves, that carry
volitions from the imperial court of the brain to the extremities of the
body, withdrawing the foot from the thorn, or compelling the hand to
plunge into the flame. Thus should we receive the impulses of our life
from Jesus Christ; not acting on self-prompted energy, or following our
own plans, thinking our own thoughts, or doing our own works, but ever
subordinated to his will.
In (Ephesians 5:23) the headship of Christ to his Church is compared to
that between husband and wife; and we are reminded of one of those deep
verses that reveal the unities of creation as they were present to the
apostle's thought. As God is the head of Christ, the glorified Man, and
as man is meant to be the head of woman, so is Christ head of each
redeemed man, as an individual, and of all such together, in the Church.
Thus amid the discord and anarchy of creation we are learning the Divine
concords, and shall yet find harmony emanating from the Church to
soothe, and still, and unify creation. ("The
Church")
