Chapter 33 - Headship

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There are many examples of headship on earth. The president of a university is often referred to as its head. It is implied that the students enrolled at the university comprise one body under his headship. Hence, they are called the “student body.” Generally speaking, the head and body of the university are related through a mutually agreed-upon purpose and mission.

The United States of America provides another example of an entity in the form of head and body. The federal government serves in the role of headship. It provides representative leadership for the federated states that constitute its body. The head and body of the United States agree to abide by a mutually beneficial system of laws and principles known as a constitution. Constitutional law dictates the nature, function, and limits of the federal government.

The real New Testament church also exists in the form of head and body. By eternal design, the heavenly Father appointed the Son, Jesus Christ, to serve in the role of headship. The elect human beings who comprise the ecclesia are His body. It is both a theological truth and a practical reality.

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     Theological Truth

By stipulation of the Renovation Covenant, God designed the human race as one collective entity. He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27) Moses used the Hebrew noun for “man” ('adam) in a collective sense. It provides a clear indication that God made mankind as one collective, covenantal entity.

                           Original Covenantal Headship

God originally created the human race in the form of head and body. Within the protective framework of the Renovation Covenant, God appointed Adam, the first man, to serve in the role of headship. Comprising his covenantal body, the rest of the human race was collectively united with Adam and one another. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Intimately united by covenantal stipulation, the original sin of Adam, the covenant head, proved consequential for his covenant body, the human race. The Apostle Paul clarified, “… just as through one man sin entered (verb – eiseélthen) into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread (verb – dieélthen) to all men, because all sinned (verb – heémarton).” (Romans 5:12; cf. Romans 3:23) The Greek indicative aorist tense is used for all three verbs in Romans 5:12. It reflects an action completed in the past with results that continue into the present. Thus, Paul’s statement clarifies that when the first man sinned, all sinned.

Adam’s covenantal headship was both representative and representational. Representative headship refers to a relationship that is law-based. In contrast, representational headship is life-based.

                              Representative Headship

Headship in the Bible is first representative. Theologically, representative headship is sometimes referred to as “federal” headship. “The word “federal” comes from the Latin word foedus, meaning covenant.”1 It refers to a relationship that is prescribed and protected by covenantal law. Thus, it is law-based.

The human race was created as one legal entity in the form of head and body. Adam, the first man and archetype of humanity, was appointed representative head of the human race. By covenantal law his posterity was appointed as his body. Covenantal head and covenantal body legally representative of one another, they shared the legal penalty for Adam’s original sin.

The legal penalty for Adam’s sin was directly transmitted to his covenantal body by means of imputation. The New Testament concept of imputation is translated from two related Greek words – ellogeo (el-log-eh'-o) and logizomai (log-id'-zom-ahee).

The less common of the two words is ellogeo. It is only used twice in the New Testament. Ellegeo has the specific meaning of “to charge to an account.” (Romans 5:13; Philemon 1:18)

In contrast, logizomai is used 40 times in the New Testament. It is broader in scope of meaning than ellogeo.

Logizomai fundamentally means to calculate or deliberate.[1] It is variously translated in the New Testament “reason”, “consider”, “count”, “think”, “credit” and “reckon.” (Luke 22:37; John 11:50; Acts 19:27; Romans 2:3; 26; 3:28; 4:3; 4; 5; 6; 8; 9; 10; 11; 22; 23; 24; 6:11; 8:18; 36; 9:8; 14:14; 1 Corinthians 4:1; 13:5; 11; 2 Corinthians 3:5; 5:19; 10:2; 7; 11; 11:5; 12:6; Galatians 3:6; Philippians 3:13; 4:8; 2 Timothy 4:16; Hebrews 11:19; James 2:23; 1 Peter 5:12) Relative to the context in which it is used in the New Testament, logizomai can also mean “to charge to an account.” (cf. Romans 4)

Through his position of representative headship, the legal consequence of Adam’s original sin was imputed or charged to the account of the entire human race. It was direct, immediate, and binding. As a result, all mankind became burdened by insurmountable legal debt and experienced legal alienation from God.

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Representative Headship

Law-based.

The human race was created as one legal entity in the form of head and body.

Adam, the first man and archetype of humanity, was appointed representative head of the human race.

By stipulation of the Renovation Covenant, Adam’s posterity was appointed as his covenantal body.

By shared covenantal law, Adam and the human race were legally joined in covenantal union.

Joined by covenantal law, Adam and the human race were legally representative of each other.

The legal penalty for Adam’s original sin was directly transmitted to his covenantal body by means of imputation.

The penalty for imputed sin is spiritual death (separation from divine life (zoe)).

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                              Representational Headship

Secondarily, headship in the Bible is representational. Sometimes referred to as “natural” or “realistic” headship, representational headship refers to a relationship that is “physical” or “seminal.” Therefore, it is life-based.

In accord with covenantal stipulation, the entire human race existed in the first man naturally, physically, or seminally. As a result, the human race, the covenantal body of Adam, shares natural life in common with Adam, its covenantal head. Thus, covenantal head and covenantal body are organically representational of one another. Consequently, the head and body of the human race shares the organic penalty for Adam’s original sin.

The natural or physical penalty for Adam’s sin was separation from divine life (zoe). Positioned under his representational headship , the entire human race also experienced separation from God. Consequently, the human race was demoted to a lower form of life (psuche). It was suitable for existence on the fallen earth apart from God.

The natural or physical penalty for Adam’s sin is indirectly transmitted to his covenantal body by means of natural or seminal inheritance. It is evidenced by the progressive physical degeneration of human life from generation to generation.

Adam was physically or seminally representational of his covenantal body, the human race. Consequently, it naturally shares his fallen life and thus, the pain, suffering, and eventual death associated with its degeneration.

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Representational Headship

Life-based.

The human race was created as one organic entity in the form of head and body.

Adam, the first man and archetype of humanity, was appointed representational head of the human race. Thus, he was organically representational of his posterity.

By stipulation of the Renovation Covenant, Adam’s posterity, preexisting in him naturally or seminally, was appointed as his covenantal body.

By shared covenantal life, Adam and the human race are organically joined in covenantal union.

Joined by covenantal life, Adam and the human race were organically representational of each other.

Associated with Adam naturally or seminally, the penalty of his original sin is indirectly transmitted to the human race from generation to generation by means of natural or seminal inheritance.

The penalty for inherited sin is physical death (degeneration and eventual cessation of physical life).

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Covenantal Consequence

Positioned under the representative and representational headship of Adam, the entire human race became legally unsuitable and organically incompatible with God:

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Category	Position in Adam	Reference
Legally Unsuitable:	Guilty of the transgression of the rule of law. Burdened by the unpayable legal debt of transgression. Unrighteous according to measure of the rule of law.	1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Colossians 2:14; 2 Peter 2:9
Organically Incompatible:	Unfavorable for habitation by divine life (zoe): Spiritually dead. Degenerated. Controlled by a degenerated nature. Independent life. Earthly.	Acts 10:42; Romans 4:17; 11:15; 14:9; Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13; 2 Timothy 4:1

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Relative to legal unsuitability and organic incompatibility, mankind was relegated to a fallen realm of existence apart from God:

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Category	Position in Adam	Reference
Realm of Existence:	The realm of sin and death.	Romans 5:12; 21; 8:2

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The fallen realm of existence is characterized by a distinct familial standing, citizenship, security, and style of governance:

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Category	Position in Adam	Reference
Familial Standing:	Children of men (“according to the flesh”).	John 1:13; Romans 8:4-5; 9:3
Citizenship:	Earthly citizenship.	Genesis 12:3; Psalm 10:18; Jeremiah 25:30; Zephaniah 1:17-18; John 3:31
Security:	Temporally and eternally insecure.	Romans 2:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:12
Style of Governance:	Positioned under the headship of Adam. Enslaved to the indwelling sin nature and therefore, disobedient from the heart. Governed externally by the rule of law.	Mark 7:20-23; Romans 1:29-31

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Congruent with the stipulations of the Renovation Covenant, the headship of Adam was legally representative and organically representational of humanity. Consequently, his transgression of covenantal law transformed the human race legally, from law-abiding to law-breaking, righteous to unrighteous. Further, it altered the human race organically, from heavenly to earthly and from the highest possible quality of life, suitable for fellowship with God, to a significantly lower form of life fit to exist on earth apart from God.

                             New Covenantal Headship

Adam’s headship was insufficient to vindicate the nature of God and repopulate His kingdom with willing citizens. It was no surprise to God that the first man, Adam, could not adequately represent the human race.

With foreknowledge God had predetermined to fulfill the stipulations of the redemptive Eternal Covenant. Therefore, in the fullness of time, He sent the mediator of the covenant to earth. Fulfilling covenantal stipulations by His sacrificial death and resurrection, Christ Jesus provided for the redemption of the elect from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (cf. Daniel 7:14; Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 14:6)

The unconditional benefit of the Eternal Covenant was new law and life. The new covenantal law ensures that the redeemed are legally suitable with God. The new covenantal life confirms organic compatibility with Him.

The new law is described in the New Testament as the “law of the Spirit of life (zoe) in Christ Jesus,” the “law of faith,” the “law of Christ” and the “law of liberty.” (Romans 3:27; 8:2; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2; James 1:25; 2:12) The new, shared law of the Eternal Covenant is often referred to in this book as the “rule of life.”

The new covenantal life is life shared with the mediator of the Eternal Covenant, Jesus Christ. It is accomplished by means of divine regeneration and spiritual birth.

Concordant with its new law the real New Testament church was legally positioned under the representative headship of Jesus Christ. By its new life the real church was organically positioned under His representational headship.

With the advent of the Church Age, new life in Christ became a reality. Thus, the real New Testament church is no longer represented by the unrighteous headship of Adam. Instead, it is privileged to be legally positioned under the righteous headship of Jesus Christ.

In Romans 5:14-21, Paul distinguished between Adam and Jesus Christ as two contrasting figures divinely positioned in the role of covenantal headship:

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Adam	Jesus Christ	Verse
“death reigned from Adam” “who is a type of” (foreshadow or pattern)	“Him who was to come” (fulfillment of the type, foreshadow, or pattern)	14
“For if by the transgression of the one many died,”	“much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”	15
“The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation,”	“but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”	16
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,”	“much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”	17
“So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men,”	“even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”	18
“For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners,”	“even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”	19

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According to Paul, Adam, the first head of humanity, was a “type of Him who was to come.” (Romans 5:14) The immediate context clarifies that Jesus Christ is the One “who was to come.” (Romans 5:15, 17) By principle of headship, Adam, the first man and first head of humanity, was a type, foreshadow or pattern of Jesus Christ. In contrast, Jesus Christ is not the second Adam, but the “last Adam”. He is not just another Adam. Instead, He is the fulfillment of the first Adam and, thus, the fulfillment of the type, foreshadow or pattern.

Paul provided additional emphasis for the contrasting headship of Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:

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Adam	Jesus Christ	Verse
“For since by a man came death,”	“by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.”	21
“For as in Adam all die,”	“so also in Christ all will be made alive.”	22
“So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul.”	“The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”	45
“….the natural;”	“then the spiritual.”	46
“The first man is from the earth, earthy;”	“the second man is from heaven.”	47

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Adam’s original act of unrighteousness allowed sin and death to enter into the world. (Romans 5:12) Consequently, the human race became legally unsuitable and organically incompatible with God. Thus, Adam’s headship proved insufficient to vindicate the nature of God.

By the redemptive work of Christ, however, the real New Testament church is no longer positioned under the headship of Adam. Instead, it is gloriously and eternally positioned under the representative and representational headship of Jesus Christ.

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Representative Headship	Representational Headship
The remedy for imputed sin is the legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness.	The remedy for inherited sin is the impartation of Christ’s life (zoe).

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