Ephesians 1:22-23

1:22

God placed – God the Father takes the initiative

all things – all creation: people and things

under his feet – under Christ’s feet; this takes His exaltation to the next logical step: dominion and submission. Jesus Christ, God the Son, not only lives to be the most honored (exalted), but also reigns and rules and exercises authority. Corresponding to this comes submission of everyone and everything to His authority. This is what I picture in the phrase “under his feet.” Old Testament kings sometimes are shown placing their feet on the heads of their defeated foes. Perhaps Paul has in mind the rebellious enemies of Christ who will be forced to submit.

That thought takes me back to the verb tense, “placed.” The past tense verb says that God has already done this. So all things are already under the authority and rulership of Christ. Have already been placed under…

and – 4 things God did for His Son: Raised Him, Seated Him [exalted], placed all under Him [authority], and now appointed

appointed – named

head – decision maker, center of thought, initiative

over everything – no exceptions; even in areas of my life where I struggle to yield, He is head in spite of my not yielding

for – on behalf of; NLT = for the benefit of

the church – Is this a shocking statement? The resurrection, exaltation, authority and dominion of God the Son, Jesus Christ was all done by God the Father for the benefit of the church! I’m not sure how this squares with other places where everything seems to be done for the glory of God the Father or the glory of God or Christ. But maybe the two are not mutually exclusive. For if the church is truly the Church, truly the Body of Christ, then whatever benefits the church does in fact bring glory to Christ who is God and gives glory to the Father. Still it seems somewhat of a surprise to see that all this is done for the benefit of the church.

1:23

is his body – Originally the paragraph above read "Bride of Christ." But I went back and changed “Bride of Christ” to “Body of Christ” because of this verse. Principle still stands

fullness – completion, embodiment, body without head is lifeless, head without body is lifeless and purposeless. But fullness says more: I’m not sure what more, but this is a weak guess: The body fills him. (I wanted to say “completes” but felt uneasy). On the other hand, if the Greek is teleos, then Paul is thinking of purpose, ultimate end. But that does not fit with the closing phrase

who fills – word used here and preceding is pleroma [I've been trying to avoid consulting commentaries and such and just letting the Word speak to me, but I finally had to look this one up]. So this is not talking about ultimate purpose, but completion or “filling the contents of” [Strong’s]. So what we have is a mystery: The church fills the contents of the One who fills the contents of everything in every way. I don’t understand this. But partly it seems to suggest the kind of holy union of which marriage is supposed to represent. Husband and wife become/are made one. Husband and wife each feels like the other completes oneself. Perhaps this verse is suggesting something of the same holy union between Christ and the church?