that occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except in Rom. 13: 9 where it is

translated "is briefly comprehended". Anakephalaioomai is composed of ana "up" and

the verbal form of kephale "head" and so does not mean "together" but "to head up".

The Revised Version has rendered the phrase "to sum up all things in Christ". While this

is nearer to the meaning, as seen in the "briefly comprehended" of Rom. 13: 9, it has

the disadvantages of failing to reveal the connexion of this passage with Eph. 1: 22, 23

where "head" and "fullness" re-appear in connexion with the present dispensation and the

church of the one body. It is evident therefore that "the dispensation of the fullness of the

seasons" when God will "head up all things in Christ" must refer to the dispensation of

which Paul was the minister, and which obtains now. "All things" here is not the

universal panta, but the limited ta panta "the all things", some entity that is under

immediate review, namely the redeemed and the heavenly beings with whom their lot is

cast. Only those "in Christ" are thus "headed up" but these are not limited to things on

earth, things in heaven are included and this fact must be considered. We cannot stay to

give an extended examination of these two terms, but one example may indicate the

Scriptural intention in the use or absence of the article "the". We know that ALL

THINGS (panta, good and gad, all things without restriction or limitation) work together

for good (no one needs an inspired revelation to inform that "good things" work together

for good). Here the absence of the article is understandable (Rom. 8: 28).

The sphere of the church of the mystery is in those heavenly places, where Christ

sits at the right hand of God, than which, no place of honour can be higher. This

company are potentially "seated together" there now, in anticipation of the day when they

shall be manifested with Him in Glory (Col. 3: 1-4; Eph. 2: 6).  Christ is not only

revealed to be the Head of this church (Eph. 1: 22, 23), but at the same time and during

the same dispensation, He is revealed to be equally the Head of all principality and power

(Col. 2: 10), and whether we adopt the translation of Eph. 3: 15 given by the A.V. "of

Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named", or whether we believe we should

read with the R.V. "every family", this "heading up" of things in heaven and earth in

Christ is an actual blessed present fact, an anticipation of the day that is coming, when all

things in whatever sphere they be shall be ranged under Christ in blessed unity. The

anticipatory character of the present dispensation is seen in the words of Col. 3: 11

"Christ is all and in all"--a present glory foreshadowing the greater glory when the end

is attained and "God" shall be all in all (I Cor. 15: 28).  Both Eph. 1: 22, 23 and

I Cor. 15: 27, 28 flow out of the special interpretation of Psalm 8: which is peculiar to

Paul's epistles (see also Heb. 2: 8 as an evidential proof that Paul wrote that epistle).

All that we have seen in this study of Eph. 1: 10 is a preparation for the concluding

clauses of this section, "The Work of the Son", which speaks of an inheritance. We have

not only been saved "from" we have been saved "to", and among those things that are the

goal and consequence of our redemption is an inheritance. This association of bondage,

redemption and inheritance moreover, is not peculiar to the dispensation of the mystery.