"Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

It is hard to imagine that a believer would deny the headship of Christ, but since there is a warning here about it, then it is possible and probable. And what is that headship?

The Greek word for head is 'kephale'. It occurs 74 times in the New Testament (our quick count) and in every instance is translated HEAD. The translators must have had a pretty good idea of what it meant, or they would have varied it a bit. It is also a part of a Greek word which means SUM. It occurs twice and there is no reason for trying to translate 'kephale' as sum. The sum used to be at the head of the column of figures and so they added up, not down as we do now.

The great image in Daniel 2 represented Gentile rule in prophetic times. The head, or beginning of this was Babylon represented by king Nebuchadnezzar. He was the head of gold. And so we also speak of a ruler of a country as being its head. The supreme commander of an army is its head. Corporations and businesses have heads, usually called presidents.

In Paul's jail letters, head appears seven times. Six of these are the headship of Christ, either of His church or other powers in heaven and earth. But when we come down to the real lesson we are to learn, we find that He has a relationship with His church that is denoted as Head. And it is this headship that men deny.

In reference to this headship of the church, there is another term which sheds light on the meaning. The church is called His BODY. This is a closer relationship than had ever before been revealed between Christ and His people. This is indeed a high and unique privilege for people today. But very few Christians know about it. It is a relationship that comes by faith. No faith can be exercised where there is no knowledge. Faith comes by hearing the Word.

In the dispensation of promise, there is a mention of the group or church being a body, but no mention of Christ being its Head. This close relationship is reserved for the dispensation of the mystery. And there is a reason for this. For Israel and the Acts church He is the coming King, King of kings and Lord of lords. But all this is in relation to an earth people. But the secret revealed at and after Acts 28:28 is of a church in which all members are equal, and Christ is Head, not the King.

In particular, Christ has been made Head of a body of believers and in turn they have members and are members as well. We must keep these in their places and order. We must hold the Head.