ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Ephesians 1.22-23

Book: Ephesians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

20. which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21. far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

22. and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23, ASV)

WEB

20. which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21. far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

22. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, 23. which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23, WEB)

KJV

20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23, KJV)

YLT

20. which He wrought in the Christ, having raised him out of the dead, and did set [him] at His right hand in the heavenly [places], 21. far above all principality, and authority, and might, and lordship, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in the coming one;

22. and all things He did put under his feet, and did give him, head over all things to the assembly, 23. which is his body, the fulness of Him who is filling the all in all, (Ephesians 1:20-23, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle.
  • Audience: Believers at Ephesus. Several of the earliest witnesses, including P46 and the original hands of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, lack the words "in Ephesus" at 1:1, which has long suggested the letter circulated among the churches of the Roman province of Asia rather than addressing one congregation alone.
  • Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul calls himself "the prisoner of Christ Jesus" (Eph 3:1, 4:1) and "an ambassador in chains" (Eph 6:20); the traditional identification is the Roman custody of Acts 28.
  • Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

Kai panta hypetaxen hypo tous podas autou, kai auton edōken kephalēn hyper panta tē ekklēsia, hētis estin to sōma autou, to plērōma tou ta panta en pasin plēroumenou.

Psalm 8 and the subjection of all things. Panta hypetaxen hypo tous podas autou quotes Psalm 8:6, where the subjection is of creation to humanity. Applied to Christ it becomes a statement about the last Adam, the man in whom the human dominion given at creation is actually exercised. Hebrews 2:6-9 makes the same move explicitly, noting that we do not yet see all things subjected to man, but we do see Jesus. The christological reading of Psalm 8 is therefore not an isolated flourish here but a shared apostolic reading.

Head "for" the church. Kephalēn hyper panta tē ekklēsia is worth parsing carefully: He is given as head over all things to the church. The universal headship is exercised for the church's benefit, which is why the verse functions in the letter as an assurance rather than as an abstract statement about cosmic order. The dative is one of advantage.

The body. Hētis estin to sōma autou. The head-body relation appears here and in Colossians, and it differs from the body metaphor of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, where the emphasis falls on the interdependence of members. Here the emphasis falls on the church's dependence on and union with the head. Both are needed and neither reduces to the other.

To plērōma, the fullness. The final phrase is one of the most difficult in the letter. To plērōma tou ta panta en pasin plēroumenou is usually rendered "the fullness of Him who fills all in all." The disputed question is whether plērōma is active, so that the church fills out or completes Christ, or passive, so that the church is that which Christ fills. The passive reading is the safer one and fits 3:19 and 4:13, where the goal is that believers be filled with the fullness of God. The active reading, taken carelessly, implies a deficiency in Christ that the letter nowhere teaches.

Where the verse does work. It is a standing text against the reduction of the church to a voluntary association, and against any account of Christ's lordship that leaves the church outside its purpose. The scope of His rule and the object of His care are named in the same sentence.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.