From now on, I will use the phrase, "Trickle-Down-Headship" to describe the complementarian usurpation of the term "Headship," which describes a function and authority only the Creator can claim.
Ephesians 1:22-23 And has put all under his feet and committed
to him [the] headship[1]
over [the] entire congregation 23: Which is His Body 1
Corinthians 12:11-27 the fullness of him who fills
all in all[2]
[1] Notice,
there is no mention of “trickle-down-headship” in this verse. The entire headship is committed to
the Messiah. No human can lay claim to the word “headship” for themselves. It
belongs only to the creator; to He in whom we live and move and have our being.
Jesus created all things. Jesus alone gives life. Jesus alone created, builds, and nourishes The
Church (which is His Body—the Body of Christ). No human has the power or
authority to lay claim to any of these things. The word “headship” is an
over-used and violently abused word within the Christian community. It is a
word that should be reserved to Christ alone, but instead is bandied about in
an entirely casual and heretical manner by men who would be God.
[2] How is the church, which is Christ’s body, the “fullness”
of Christ? Is Christ somehow incomplete--imperfect? The obvious answer to that
question is a resounding, No! But let’s do a word study and see what the
apostle could have meant when he used the word, “fullness,” in reference to
Christ. The word, fullness, as used in this verse, derives from the Greek word
“Pleroma” (Strong’s G4138) which
literally means “what fills,” repletion, or completion. In turn, Pleroma
is derived from Strong’s G4137, “Pleroo,”
which has a variety of meanings: to cram,
level up, furnish, imbue, diffuse, influence, satisfy, execute, finish, verify, coincide (as in coincide with a
prediction). Pleroo, is derived from
yet another Greek word, Strong’s G4134, “Pleres,”
which means replete, covered, complete. But we are not yet finished with this
word study; Pleres, is derived from yet
another Greek word, Strong’s G4130, “Pletho,”
which is a form of the primary root word, “Pleo,”
which means: influence, supply, fulfill.
There we have it. The mystery of how the Church can be the “fullness” of
Christ. The word “Fill,” derived from G4137, “Pleroo,” has a connotation of “fulfillment”—as in the fulfillment
of that which is predicted. So we understand, the idea is completion
of that which has been predicted or prophesied concerning the Christ. The
church is the completion, the fulfillment, of that which was prophesied. To claim otherwise is to
suggest that Jesus Christ himself is somehow incomplete without the church. But
we know that is not true, as all the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily (in physical form). Therefore, he
is and always has been complete. Our
Creator and Savior, does not need the Church to complete him. But the church is
the fulfillment of that which has been prophesied. This also relates to the issue of male headship (as this “completion”
teaching has been applied to God’s human creation in the most detrimental of
ways). The teaching that woman was created to represent the Church in order to complete the image of God in
man, is error. Both male and female were created individually complete
(completely in the image of God). They do not need each other in order to form
a complete image of God. Woman does not complete man. Just so, the Church does not complete Christ. Every human
being, saved or unsaved, married, or unmarried, is created fully and completely
in the image of God
. But the
living organism (based on relationship—not organization) called the Church, is the completion (fulfillment)
of that which was prophesied concerning Messiah. Only the Church is composed of
those who can simply call on the name of the
Lord to be saved Joel 2:32, Acts 2:16.
Trinity Marriage and the Godhead, Charles Stanley wrote that if there is
no hierarchy within the Godhead, then there is no scriptural basis for
complementarian doctrine [the doctrine of female submission to male authority—male
headship]. This book examines and refutes the theory of male headship based on an alleged hierarchy within the Eternal Godhead.
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