Ephesians 1:22-23

1:22 And God ¹  put ²  all things under Christ’s ³  feet, ⁴  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁵  1:23 Now the church is ⁶  his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ⁷ 

Ephesians 4:15

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, ⁸  we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

Ephesians 5:23

5:23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body.

Philippians 2:10-11

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ⁹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ¹⁰ 

Colossians 2:10

2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Colossians 2:19

2:19 He has not held fast ¹¹  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ¹²  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ¹³ 

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “subjected.”

³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

⁵ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

⁶ tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

⁷ tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

⁸ tn The meaning of the participle ἀληθεύοντες (alhqeuonte"; from the verb ἀληθεύω [alhqeuw]) is debated. In classical times the verb could mean “to speak the truth,” or “to be true, to prove true.” In the LXX it appears five times (Gen 20:16; 42:16; Prov 21:3; Isa 44:26; Sir 34:4) and translates four different Hebrew words; there it is an ethical term used of proving or being true, not with the idea of speaking the truth. In the NT the only other place the verb appears is in Gal 4:16 where it means “to speak the truth.” However, in Ephesians the concept of “being truthful” is the best sense of the word. In contrast to the preceding verse, where there are three prepositional phrases to denote falsehood and deceit, the present word speaks of being real or truthful in both conduct and speech. Their deceit was not only in their words but also in their conduct. In other words, the believers’ conduct should be transparent, revealing the real state of affairs, as opposed to hiding or suppressing the truth through cunning and deceit. See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 564-65, and R. Bultmann, TDNT 1:251.

⁹ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

¹⁰ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

¹¹ tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

¹² tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

¹³ tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”