In this message we shall cover the remaining aspects of what Christ is in His person to the believers.
In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, “I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.” In Ephesians 1:22 and 23 the headship of Christ over all things is to His Body, the church. Here in 1 Corinthians 11:3 the headship of Christ over every man is pertaining to individuals. Christ is both the Head corporately of the Body, the church, and individually of the believers. He is the Head directly of every one of us.
We may link Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 11:3 to the book of Revelation. According to Revelation 4 and 5, Christ, the slain, resurrected, and ascended Lamb, is now in the heavens carrying out God’s administration under God’s headship. Before the throne of God, there is no rebellion. However, the earth is filled with rebellion. Satan takes the lead to rebel against God. But in the midst of all this rebellion, there is a Body composed of believers who have been redeemed and baptized into the Triune God, the Body of the One in heaven who submits Himself to God’s headship. The believers should reflect Christ as the Head submitting Himself to the headship of God. Christ is the One who became a man, who was slain for our sins, and who was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit so that we may have life. Now this One is in the heavens submitting Himself to God’s headship for the carrying out of the divine administration. We, therefore, by honoring Christ as our Head, should express Christ’s submission to the headship of God for the carrying out of His administration.
As believers, we have Christ as our Lord. Romans 14:8 says, “Whether we live, we live to the Lord, or if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” All genuine believers are the Lord’s. All have been born of the same Lord regardless of the way in which they have been baptized, of the food they eat, or the days they observe. Because Christ is our Lord, we should not make decisions on our own. Furthermore, we should not make suggestions to others or give instructions to them, for Christ is their Lord. Only the Lord Jesus is the Lord. We must honor Him by not making decisions in ourselves. We should realize that He is our Lord and that we are not qualified and do not have the position to make decisions. If we know that Christ is our Lord, and the Lord of all believers, we shall honor Him by praying and waiting on Him for His leading.
In Ephesians 1:17 Paul speaks of “our Lord Jesus Christ.” We the believers should not only recognize Christ as the Lord; we should take Him as our Lord, more personally and more intimately. He is the Lord of all things and of all people. That is general. We should take Him specifically as our Lord in our experience of salvation and our Christian life. In our daily life we should always realize that we have a Lord who is the Christ of God.
Paul’s word concerning the relationship between slaves and masters (Eph. 6:5-9) reveals that Christ is the believers’ Master, Lord. Paul exhorts the slaves to obey their masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ (v. 5). Fear is the inward motive and trembling is the outward attitude. Singleness means to be pure in motive, with only a single purpose. Slaves are to be single; they are not to have a double purpose. This means that slaves are not to serve their masters with the intention of receiving some gain for themselves. Here the relationship between slaves and masters is a type of our relationship with Christ, our Master. We should obey Him as slaves, in singleness of heart.
Ephesians 6:9 says, “The masters, do the same things toward them, giving up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in the heavens, and there is no respect of persons with Him.” This indicates that the masters who had the right over the lives of their purchased slaves should give up threatening, because the Lord is the real Master of both them and the slaves. In the flesh, some may be slaves, and others may be masters. But in the eyes of the Lord, there is no difference between slaves and masters. He is our unique Master, our Lord, and we are all His slaves.
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