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order that the Headship of Christ may be seen to include principality and power we turn
to Col. 2::
"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in
Him, which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2: 10).
These are the principalities and powers who are said to have been created `in Him' in
Col. 1: 16. That there are other principalities and powers who are not included in
Col. 2: 10 is made evident by reading on. In verse 15 He `spoiled principalities and
powers', making a show of them openly, triumphing over them by His cross. These, like
the principalities and powers of Eph. 6: 12, are associated with the rulers of darkness of
this world, and are called `spiritual wickednesses' over which Christ is not Head. The
one reference left, namely Col. 2: 19, takes us back to the position already indicated in
Eph. 4: 15, 16. "Not holding the Head" is the signal for disaster, even as `Not after
Christ' is the index of all that is untrue (Col. 2: 8). Here in this last reference to Christ as
the Head, we are brought back to the church of the One Body with its many members,
and with it we must close our examination of this great title, a title that is not only
peculiarly characteristic of the dispensation of the Mystery, but a title which we have
seen gathers up into itself all other titles by which the Christ of God and the purposes of
grace associated with Him, have been unfolded down the ages. We who live at the end of
time, who see with our own eyes the approach of prophetic days, have been highly
favoured among the redeemed, in that Christ to us is more than Prophet, Priest or King,
He is Head, and we are more than subjects of a kingdom, more than a royal nation or a
holy priesthood, more than the Bride of the Lamb, we are the very `members of His
Body'. Let us therefore heed the exhortation `Hold the Head', that we may `increase
with the increase of God'.
"Fullness" looks to `Emptiness' as its opposite, and both terms are ones of Christ.
Indeed before all the fullness could dwell in Him as the one Mediator and Head, He
emptied Himself for our sakes, that we through His poverty might be rich. `Fullness' is
the glory of Ephesians and Colossians, but `Self-Emptying' is equally the glory of
Philippians. "He made Himself of no reputation" (Phil. 2: 7) translates the Greek word
kenoo. For a detailed examination of Phil. 2:, see the book entitled The Prize of the
High Calling.