Craig

Thanks Cheryl for all the time you give to help others.
Can I check something. Is it correct that Paul uses “head” in two different ways in this one passage Eph 1:22,23.
In “Head over all things”, “head” is not being used in any metaphor so we look at the context and possible meanings of “kephale” (like authority, source, origin) to determine its meaning.
In this same passage though, he uses the head/body metaphor and to determine the meaning of this we look at the way heads and bodies work together, the context and what is being taught by the analogy.
The two meanings can be entirely different, so that “head over all things” can have everything to do with authority, but the head/body metaphor has nothing to do with authority of the head over the body. Rather, the body joins the head in having authority over “all things”.
Thus Paul can be using “head” in a context of authority in Eph 1:22 but can use “head” in the head /body analogy entirely differently in the same passage and the rest of the letter.