gengwall

I’m with Kristen on this one. Jesus relates to the Church in a variety of ways. In Ephesians, and in particular in the head/body metaphors, it is addressing just one of these relational paradigms. In that paradigm, there is no authority element. The mistake that people make is to ignore the metaphor and start to assign English meanings to the translated English word “head”. (I’m not saying anyone here is doing that, just that comps often do). But the actual relationship between Christ/husband/head and Church/wife/body within the context of the metaphor can not take on any elements outside of the anatomical head/body relationship. In that literal, physical relationship, authority is non-existent and symbiosis, unity, and equality are the fundimental characteristics. Yes, Christ has some relational paradigms with the church that involve a level of authority. But not this one.