Who is The Head of The Church?

When you hear the word “Church,” what comes to your mind? Is it brick and mortar, steel and glass? Is it a beautiful building, having a steeple with a cross on top? Many people think so, but they are mistaken. Other people think that a Church is an organization, run by men and women, much like a business – but this is off the mark as well. The Church is an organism – a real live entity with Jesus Christ as its Head:

“Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23b).

There are three things that the above Scripture teaches us:
(1.) Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. There is no Pastor, no Pope, no Bishop and no Prophet who is the Head of the one, true Church – only Jesus!
(2.) The Church is the Body of Christ. The visible church is not what is being described here, it is the invisible Church – the one, true Church of God. When it comes to the one, true Church – the Invisible Church – only Jesus Christ is the Head – the Chief Shepherd of His sheep – the Church. Local, visible churches are to reflect the invisible Church. Shepherds, called Pastors (Eph.4:11-12), take their example from the Chief Shepherd – Jesus (I Peter 5:4). The local church is to be made up of saved sinners, who are led by their pastors in their worship of Christ and in their living for Christ.
(3.) Jesus – the Savior – is the Spiritual Head of the saved – the Church. The very word “church’ means “called-out ones.” Notice, the emphasis is placed – not upon the Church – but upon Jesus, Himself! While the Church is the Body, Jesus Christ is the Head. The believer’s ultimate comfort, encouragement, joy and instruction are to be realized in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Lord. Jesus will never fail His people; Jesus will always provide for His people; Jesus will never leave His people.

The Institution of Marriage mirrors Christ and His Church

Ephesians 5:23-25, 32 23 “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Just as Christ Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Invisible Church is His Bride, so also is the institution of marriage – an institution created by God – made to where the husband (the Man) is to marry his Bride (the woman). The picture is correct only when you have a man and a woman – as God intended it to be from the beginning. This is why you have the closing statement:

Ephesians 5:31 31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

God made man and woman to have a unique relationship with one another. It is in the heavenly institution of marriage – between a man and a woman – that the one of a kind love and relationship that Jesus Christ has for His people can be properly shown. The relationship between Jesus (the Groom) and His chosen ones (the Bride) can only be shown between a man and a woman. His glory and honor is displayed in no other way!