God’s Plan through the Church

God the Father does two things for Christ in v. 22 upon his exaltation to the righthand of God’s throne. First, God put all things under Christ’s feet. This image comes from a throne room where the king is the highest of all and everyone else must bow. In some cultures today, respect is still shown by a bow. This description recognizes Christ’s supremacy as King of kings and Lord of lords. There is nothing or no one higher. The all things is broad and inclusive of all creation. This passage has echoes of the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11.

The second description goes the opposite way from feet to head: the Father put Christ as head over all things. This emphasizes further Christ’s sovereignty and position as Lord. The word all things is repeated in the second clause for emphasis.

There is a difficult prepositional phrase as the end of v. 22:  to the church.” The challenge is how to interpret the preposition “to,” which is actually not present in the Greek. The Greek simply uses the dative case, which often requires the addition of a preposition in English. Several interpretations present themselves in light of this. One is to supply the preposition “in,” making this a dative locative, which Paul is fond of using. So, Christ is head over everything “in the church.” This fits well the idea found in v. 23, that Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. A second option is to include the preposition “for,” which makes this more of a dative of advantage: Christ became head over everything “for the church.” This fits the early ideas found in vv. 3-14, which highlight God’s ultimate plan for redemption of humanity through what Christ has done through death and resurrection. The church as the family of God is God’s plan for humanity (this should not to be interpreted as any organized church or denomination but the people of God).

Although either option is possible, the first seems to fit the immediate context more. Everything in the church is under the lordship of Jesus Christ. His supremacy over all the created order is the same supremacy he has in the church. The church must recognize and live by this supremacy. If he is not supreme over the affairs of the church, the church is not being his body. This is a profound and far reaching idea. If we do things in the church that are not to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ or not for his purposes, we are not being his body.

In v. 23, Paul calls the church the body of Christ. This is an important image in this letter and is repeated in 2:3, 16; 3:6, 4:4, 12; 5:23, 30. Paul uses it also in 1 Corinthians 12. The church represents the very presence of Christ on earth. The church continues what the Incarnation initiated.  The very power of Christ (by whom all things exist, Colossians 1:16) is at work in the church. The last clause in v. 23 is poetic: fills all things in everything. This phrase modifies body, thus, the church is this fullness. It is through the church that God in Christ will bring about his plan for creation. This thought should be enough to bring revival and change in people.  It puts “church” on a whole different level than what we often practice and do. The church is more than a meeting that takes place on Sunday morning or the building on the street corner. The church is the very purpose of God for this age and represents God’s plan for all creation in eternity.