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"In P Oxy 11.273/18 (A.D.95) kephale is used of the `whole amount' of land that was
being ceded; in Michel 588/16 (2nd half 2:/B.100:) of `the total expenditure' . . . . ."
(Vocabulary of the Greek Testament by Moulton and Milligan).
In the N.T. Authorized Version kephale is regularly translated `head', although a
cognate word, kephalaion is twice rendered "sum" (Acts 22: 28; Heb. 8: 1) and
kephalis, another word in the same family, "volume" (Heb. 10: 7).
Putting all these thoughts together the following three basic meanings emerge as to the
Hebrew rosh and the Greek kephale:
(1)
Precedence with respect to time, order or position.
(2)
Origin or source (out of).
(3)
Sum or whole.
It is not without significance that all three of these meanings are applied to Christ in
the N.T.:
(1)
"He is before all, and all things hold together in Him. And He is the Head (kephale) of
the body, the church; Who is the beginning (arche), firstborn out from the dead,
in order that He might be in all things, holding the first place" (Col. 1: 17, 18).
(2)
"The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin (arche) of God's creation"
(Moffatt--Rev. 3: 14).
(3)
"In Him dwells all the fullness (pleroma) of the Godhead bodily . . . . . the Head
(kephale) of all principality (arche) and authority . . . . ." (Col. 2: 9, 10).
Christ has precedence with respect to time, order and place; He is the origin of the
creation and the fullness (related to the idea of completeness) of the Godhead. All things
(ta panta), in the dispensation of the fullness of the seasons, will be headed up
(anakephalaiomai) in Him, whilst the church which is His body already enjoys His
headship (Eph. 1: 10, 22, 23).
The connection of the word `head' with the idea of sum (probably associated with the
fact that in ancient times the sum or total of a number of figures was placed at the head,
not the foot as now, of an account) must not be lost sight of when thinking of
completeness in Christ. Insofar that all things found in Him will eventually acknowledge
His headship, He having filled these "all things", they may be looked upon as summed-up
in Him; Christ must be seen as "all in all" (Col. 3: 11) before I Cor. 15: 24-28 becomes
a reality:
"Then cometh the end . . . . . . . God may be all in all."
The man-woman (expressed in the husband-wife) relationship, insofar that it includes
the thought of headship, is a pale reflection of realities concerning the relationships
between Christ and the church, and God and the whole creation.