What Does Ephesians 1:22 Mean in the King James?
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The one who stands over everything is given to the assembly itself as its head.
THE MEANING
Everything is placed beneath Christ, and the one who holds authority over all is given to the assembly as its head. His rule is present within a shared body, not remote from it. The powers that look ultimate are beneath him, while the assembly receives him as the one who orders its life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that Christ is distant from the assembly: the one over all is given to it as head.
THE ROOT
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or hand something over.
“gave” in this verse is edōken. The sentence does not only say that Christ holds authority; it says he is given to the assembly as head. The verb makes his rule a gift to the gathered people.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver something to another.
παραδίδωμι
This branch makes the transfer in “gave him” vivid: Christ is entrusted to the assembly as head.
apodidōmi: To give back, return, or render what is due.
ἀποδίδωμι
This branch also carries the sense of a transfer between parties, keeping the verse’s focus on what is given and to whom.
κεφαλή
kephalē
GROWS FROM
κεφαλ-
kephal-
Head; the Greek word family is built around the head.
A related verb means to sum up or gather under one head; in Ephesians 1:10, it is translated “gather together in one.” English “head” can sound only like rank, while this word family also opens the image of all things gathered in one.
ALSO GROWS
anakephalaiō: To sum up or bring together under one head.
ἀνακεφαλαιόω
Ephesians 1:10 uses this related verb for gathering all things in Christ, connecting his headship with the gathering of all things.
kephalaion: A principal matter, chief point, or sum.
κεφάλαιον
This related word extends head-language to what is principal or gathered into a whole, illuminating Christ as head over all things.
ὑπέταξεν
hypetaxen
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To arrange, appoint, or assign; in ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō), to subject or place beneath.
“put under” in this verse is hypetaxen. The verb describes an act of subjection: all things are placed beneath his feet. The tasso word family also carries the sense of arranging or assigning, so the verse presents subordination as an ordered relation while keeping the image of the feet concrete.
ALSO GROWS
epitassō: To give an order or command.
ἐπιτάσσω
This branch shows the root at work in active direction as well as arrangement, sharpening the force of all things being subjected beneath him.
syntassō: To arrange or appoint in relation to one another.
συντάσσω
This branch echoes the ordered relation in the verse: all things are placed beneath the head.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts authority over all things as ordered beneath one head, whose relation to believers is embodied in a shared people.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.THE THREAD
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:“Gather together in one” translates ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι (anakephalaiōsasthai, sum up or gather under one head), from the same κεφαλ- (kephal-, head) word family as “head” in verse 22. The one given as head over all things to the assembly is also the one in whom all things are gathered together.
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