Kephalē appears in three decisive theological contexts in Paul: (1) Christ as Head of the Church — "He is the head of the body, the church" (Col 1:18; Eph 5:23), the source and sustainer of her life, the authority over all things given for her sake. (2) The husband as head of the wife — (Eph 5:23; 1 Cor 11:3), explicitly modeled on Christ's headship over the church, meaning servant-sacrifice, not domination. (3) The Father as head of Christ — (1 Cor 11:3), speaking to the eternal ordered relation within the Trinity. The pattern is consistent: kephalē involves authority and responsibility exercised through self-giving love, not raw power. Christ's headship over the church is demonstrated supremely by dying for her (Eph 5:25). Any headship that does not carry that cross-shaped character has misunderstood the word.
HEAD, n. [Sax. heafod; Goth. haubith; G. haupt; D. hoofd; Sw. Dan. hoved; L. caput; It. capo; Sp. cabo, cap; Fr. chef, cap; W. pen; Ir. ceann; Gr. kephale; Ar. roof.]
1. The uppermost part of the human body, or the foremost part of the body of other animals. The head of man contains the brain and its appendages, and the organs of sight, hearing, taste and smell.
4. A chief; a principal person; a leader; a commander; one who has the first rank or place, and to whom others are subordinate; as the head of an army; the head of a sect or party.
5. Understanding; faculties; intellectual powers; as a man of a good head or a strong head.
8. Authority; place of honor or command.
Two opposing corruptions have distorted kephalē in our day. On one side: domineering headship — men who wield authority as raw power, who demand submission without practicing sacrifice, who mistake position for character. This is not the headship of Ephesians 5. On the other side: egalitarian erasure — redefining kephalē to mean only "source" (like the source of a river), stripping it of any authority content, making Paul's argument in Ephesians 5 meaningless. The biblical text holds both together: real authority, exercised through cruciform love. The antidote to abusive headship is not the abolition of headship — it is the recovery of its cross-shaped model.
• Ephesians 5:23 — "The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior."
• Colossians 1:18 — "He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead."
• Ephesians 1:22–23 — "God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church."
• 1 Corinthians 11:3 — "The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
• Ephesians 4:15–16 — "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ."
Greek: κεφαλή (kephalē, G2776)
→ PIE *ghebh-el- (head, top)
→ Used 76 times in NT (literal + metaphorical)
→ Key metaphorical uses: Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18; 2:10, 19; 1 Cor 11:3
Hebrew: רֹאשׁ (rōsh, H7218)
→ head, chief, top, beginning, sum
→ Used for human heads, military commanders, months/years, the cornerstone
→ Ps 118:22 — the stone the builders rejected becomes rōsh pinnāh (chief cornerstone)
Debate: "Source" vs. "Authority"
→ Wayne Grudem: extensive study of 2,336 Greek texts found no clear case of
kephalē meaning "source" without authority; LSJ lexicon: "head" = authority
→ Egalitarian scholars (e.g., Cervin): some LXX passages prefer "source"
→ Best reading: kephalē carries both — authority grounded in originating provision
• "Christ's headship over the church is not a management structure — it is a life-giving, death-defying union. The Head died for the body."
• "The headship Paul envisions for husbands is not the authority to be served but the authority to serve — to love as Christ loved, which means the cross."
• "When kephalē disappears from the Christian household, what fills the vacuum is not equality — it is confusion, abdication, and often tyranny from beneath."