The True Meaning of Headship: Part Four

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David Kotter
January 18, 2008

This post is the fourth in a series (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) addressing the meaning of the word kephale.

This critical word is used in the New Testament in key passages such as "for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior" (Ephesians 5:23), and "the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Corinthians 11:3).

In this series we have heard from John Mark Reynolds, Wayne Grudem and P.G.W. Glare, and we have walked through the process of using lexicon and literary context to understand the meaning of a word.

At each step we have concluded that in the context of the verses above Paul used the word kephale to most likely mean "have authority over." It is extremely unlikely or impossible that the author intended this word to mean that Christ is the "source without authority" of the Church and a husband is the "source without authority" of his wife.

Where do we go from here?

First, every husband needs to be reminded that his authority in marriage comes from God, is defined by the Word of God, and is to be modeled after the sacrificial, loving relationship of Christ to the church. In no way is this authority a license for selfish tyranny or boorish abuse.

Second, every wife needs to be encouraged to intelligent submission to her own husband with the Spirit-given patience that comes from an understanding that all husbands are sinful and in a process of sanctification.

Third, everyone who would like to dig deeper into the Greek scholarship behind this question, should consider the following articles for further study:

  1. An Open Letter to Egalitarians (Revised 2003)
  2. The Meaning of Kephale ("Head"): An Evaluation of New Evidence, Real and Alleged
  3. "Does kephale ("Head") Mean "Source" or "Authority over" in Greek Literature? A Survey of 2,336 Examples" (Trinity Journal 6 NS [1985], 38-59).
  4. "The Meaning of kephale: A Response to Recent Studies" (Trinity Journal 11 NS [1990], 3-72.

 
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