gengwall

I want to make sure this is clear. The lexicon Mark uses claims that in Greek, kephale is used metaphorically of persons to mean master or lord. That contention is absolutely false. kephale in the biblical Greek metaphors that have persons as the tenor could only be used in that way if Greek’s viewed the anatomical head to be the “master” or “lord” of the body. But they absolutely did not have that view, nor is that true today based on our advanced scientific knowledge. One must look at the relationship between parts of the body, not the ordinary relationships between people (where a person may be master or lord over another), to grasp what Paul is trying to convey about marriage.

In fact, the Greeks never used kephale in any sense to mean authority over. Common English phrases like “head of state”, “head of the company”, “head of the house”, “head of the family” etc., are unknown in ancient Greek (maybe modern too, although I don’t study that). That is why, when the Greek translators of the Septuigint ran into a Hebrew idom or phrase using the Hebrew word for head that contained an aspect of authority, they didn’t translate “rosh” into “kephale“, they translated it into “archon” (ruler). “kephale of state/city/country/house/clan/family” would be meaningless to their Greek readers. But “archon of the state/city/country/house/clan/family” would make perfect sense.