Ephesians 1:22–23

The truth that matches the lifting up of Jesus is the subjection of all created things to Him as Lord of all. This is now stated by a quotation from Psalm 8, a passage mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament for a similar purpose (1 Cor. 15:27; Heb. 2:8). The subjection spoken of here is by the same hand that raised up Jesus from the dead.

So the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains the eighth Psalm to his readers and says, We see now that this has not yet been fulfilled. This is not a contradiction of Ephesians, where the same Psalm is quoted. In Ephesians we have the counsel of God. That counsel is that all things are to be put under the feet of the glorified Christ, and when God takes a counsel it is as good as accomplished. But here in Hebrews 2 the writer speaks about the time aspect. So he says that at present the Lord Jesus is at the right hand, as in Ephesians, but we do not yet see all things put under His feet in a visible, practical way.

Notice here two headships of a very different character. That He is the Head of the Church is obvious, because the Church is spoken of as His body. But besides this, God presents Him to the Church as "Head over all." God has already exalted Him and set Him in the highest place at His own right hand. God will make Him Heir of all things, the acknowledged and undisputed Head of the whole universe. In this character, as Head over all things, He has joined the Church to Himself. She is not part of the realm over which He reigns, but part, so to speak, of Himself — "the Church, which is His body."

But the apostle says, "Head over all things to the Church": why and how "to the Church"? That cannot mean to limit what is absolute. No, this headship over all shows the fulness of His resources for that to which He is Head in such a way that it is His Body. The Head over all is Head to a people so united to Him by the Spirit that they are one with Him as a body is with its head.

It does not make much difference. He gave Him to the church, that is, gave Him as Head to the body. That, at any rate, is the sense of it. It is the character in which He has been given.

The church is not to be a glorious people only, over which Christ is to reign. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ — not just heirs under Christ, but heirs with Him. This matches the picture given at the very beginning of man's history. Adam had the glory of being head over this lower world, and his wife shares the dominion because of her union with him. The church is the spiritual Eve of the Lord Jesus, the bride of the last Adam.

The church exists today, and her Head is the One who — though "over all, God blessed forever" — is over all things, the ascended and glorified Man. So the church does not have to wait to receive gifts. They are hers today, and have been hers since she came into being. They have reached her from her exalted Head. Every one of them exists to maintain His interests and to do His work in the world, and this world is the scene of the enemy's power. Every one of them is a witness to the triumph of our Head.

It does not say head over the church, but head over all things to the church. Nothing could show the riches of God's grace more fully than this: it pleased God to join the church with Christ. The church here means all saints from Pentecost until the Lord comes. And Christ is the Man of His purpose, His own blessed Son, the One in whom is all His pleasure. Every believer indwelt by the Spirit is united to Christ, the living Head, as a member of His body, and the Lord regards him as a part of Himself.

The figure of the body shows how close the church's connection with Christ is — "the church which is His body." This is not the relationship of subjects to a ruler, though it is also true that the church is subject to Christ. But this striking picture carries a wonderful truth. God's eternal purpose is not fulfilled unless the church is joined to the Risen Man in the place of glory where He is exalted.

The Church is "His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." It is the complement — that which fills up Christ, seen as man risen from the dead. As Son of God He needs nothing, of course, to complete His glory. But as man He does. Without the Church He would be no more complete in His resurrection-glory than Adam would have been without Eve.

"The fullness of Him who fills all in all" — this is not the fullness of God the Father, which the Church is not and cannot be. It is the fullness, or complement, of Christ, seen as the glorified heavenly man, whose body we are.

The Church is His fullness. According to Lightfoot, this word means "the filled condition of a thing, whether a tear to be mended, an idea to be realized, a prophetic plan to be fulfilled". How can we accept the idea that so glorious a Being needs anything to complete Him? Part of the answer, at least, is that Christ is here a Man. The quotation from Psalm 8 confirms this: "all things under His feet." It brings us close to this thought: in God's counsel it was not good that man should be alone, and God took Eve out of his body. In becoming man, Christ accepted this too — that He needs the Church to be His body, and later His bride.

The body is complement to the Head; it is in this sense its fullness. Christ fills all in all: this is His glory. It is He who divinely fills the whole universe — the church is the body of Him who does it.

The church is His body and so His fullness — the body in which He is properly expressed. This passage clearly views the church in its largest and widest sense. It is the sum total of the saints of this present age: those called out between the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

Baptised by one Spirit into one body, we have the Head and the body joined together. The Head is at the right hand of God in heaven, joined to the members. The power of the Holy Spirit forms them into a body down here on earth. Scripture calls that "the church."