Page 49 - Family Life Student Textbook

Colossians 1:18 “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”

You are delegated the authority.

Colossians 2:10 “and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every
power and authority.”

Ephesians 1:22–23 “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills
everything in every way.”

You bear the responsibility.

Colossians 2:19 “They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body,
supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to
grow.”

Ephesians 4:15–16 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every
respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole
body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up
in love, as each part does its work.”

The biblical portrait of headship is as follows: “By God's design, the husband is the head of the wife and
lovingly exercises his delegated authority.”

Let's look at some biblical principles for being the head.

The head of the wife is the husband because of God's decision.

Ephesians 5:23–24 “For the husband is the head of the
wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body,
of which he is the Savior. Now as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to
their husbands in everything.”

Rolls should not be defined by our culture or by the media. Role
should not be defined by other Christians. Some Christian
marriages are often not very good examples. Our roles should
not be defined by our capabilities, our talents, or our
intelligence. Rolls should be defined by God's commandments, based on God's design.

Headship is not a 50-50 arrangement. Rather it is a 100% arrangement. Ephesians 5 does not teach that the
headship role of the husband is dismissed by verse twenty-one which says that we are to be subject to one
another. The rest of Ephesians 5 gives us prescriptions for how submission for a wife is to be ordered and
the description is not co-submission. God, in order to help your wife be everything he wants her to be, has,
in his wisdom, placed her under your headship.

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