Headship

The quality of being in a position of leadership or guidance. Headship has to do with God's relation to this created world, and to his ordering of relationships within it. Headship among human beings does not necessarily signify superior status, but rather a role of leadership and care. Scripture sees it as involving servanthood, and views Jesus Christ as the supreme model of this.

God as head over all things

1 Chronicles 29:11 See also Isaiah 45:23; Daniel 4:34–35; Romans 9:14–21; 1 Corinthians 15:24–28

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all.

Headship within the Godhead

The Father's eternal headship

1 Corinthians 11:3 See also 1 Corinthians 15:24–28; Philippians 2:6

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

The Father's headship in the Son's earthly life and ministry

John 6:38 See also Matthew 26:39 parallels Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42; Philippians 2:6–8; Hebrews 5:7–8

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.

Jesus Christ as head of all creation

Head of the created order

Colossians 1:15–17 The description of Jesus Christ as the firstborn does not imply he is part of creation, but rather stresses his rights of inheritance over it. See also Hebrews 1:2–4

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Head of all earthly and spiritual powers

Ephesians 1:20–22 See also Colossians 1:15–18, Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 2:8

which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,

Head of the church

Ephesians 4:15–16 See also Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18, Colossians 2:19

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

Head over all things at the end

Ephesians 1:9–10 See also 1 Corinthians 15:25–27; Revelation 19:11–16

And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

Delegated headship in God's world

Headship of humanity over creation

Genesis 1:28 See also Psalm 8:1–9; Hebrews 2:5–8

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

Headship of rulers over their nations

Psalm 18:43 See also 1 Samuel 15:17; Isaiah 7:8–9; Daniel 2:31–38; Romans 13:1–6; 1 Peter 2:13–14

You have delivered me from the strife of the people; You have made me the head of nations; a people I had not known shall serve me.

Headship of chiefs over their tribes and families

Joshua 22:13–14 See also Numbers 1:1–16; Judges 10:17–11:11; 1 Chronicles 5:15

The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. With him they sent ten chiefs — one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel.

Headship of the husband over his wife

Ephesians 5:22–24 See also 1 Corinthians 11:3–16 Women, including wives, were told to cover their heads when praying or prophesying in public as an acknowledgment, apparently, that headship attaches to males; Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1–6

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 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.

Headship of leaders over the people of God

1 Thessalonians 5:12 See also 1 Samuel 24:1–7; Isaiah 3:1–7 The removal of headship and leadership is seen as a mark of God's judgment; Hebrews 13:17

But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.

Humility, love and respect are to be the framework for delegated headship

1 Peter 5:1–3 See also Ephesians 5:21, Ephesians 5:25–30

As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.