The Government of the Church
Christ the Head
The Supreme Authority
Description
Christ alone is the head of the church—He has all authority in heaven and on earth. God put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. No human being, council, or tradition can usurp His headship. The church submits to Christ as a wife submits to her husband. Christ directs the church through His Word and Spirit. Every knee must bow to Him; every tongue confess that He is Lord. The church has no king but Jesus. All earthly leadership in the church derives from and is accountable to His authority.
Key Verses
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
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.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.