Weekly Bulletins
Christ: The Head of The Church
CHRIST: THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH
In Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul speaks of the authority that God has given unto Christ: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
The following are Robert Harkrider’s comments on Ephesians 1:22-23. They are certainly worthy of our consideration. - M.P.
“Christ is head over all things to the church. Christ is the head “of” the church because it belongs to Him (Col. 1:18; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 5:23, 25); but He is head over all things “to” the church in the sense that He governs and rules it by His own will.
The church has no right to make laws. It obeys the law of Christ. The divisions in the religious world have been caused by a failure to demand the authority from Christ for all that we do. Some have followed with the attitude, ‘join the church of your choice and be baptized as you please.’
When councils, synods and conventions of men usurp the authority from Christ, the result has always been the formation of new denominations with varying creeds and rituals and traditions of worship. If we wish to return to simple New Testament Christianity we will only ‘speak as the oracles of God’ (1 Pet. 4:11). We will put away traditions and commandments of men (Matt. 15:7-9; Gal. 1:6-8) and unite on the authority of Christ which is revealed in the New Testament (Matt. 28:18-20; 2 John 9; Matt. 7:21-23).”
