A second way of translating Ephesians 1:22 does not use the words “to be.” According to this way of rendering the verse, it would read, “gave Him, head over all things, to the church.” The verse would then mean that God has given something to the church. What has God given to the church? God has given Christ to the church as the Head over all things. One version that follows this way of translating this verse is the Concordant Literal New Testament: “gives Him, as Head over all, to the ecclesia.” Wuest in his expanded translation says the same thing: “Him He gave as Head over all things to the Church.” Dean Alford also interprets this verse to mean that God gave Christ to the church as the Head, and this Head is over all things. This second way of translating this verse would indicate after God raised Christ from among the dead, seated Him in the heavens, and subjected all things under His feet, He then gave Him to the church as the Head over all things. This would not be logical according to the sequence. The three steps of raising Christ, seating Him in the heavens, and subjecting all things under His feet are great steps. According to the second way of translating the verse, these great steps are followed by a lesser step—giving Christ to the church.
The third way of translating Ephesians 1:22 says that God gave, appointed, or made Christ the Head over all things for the church. This is the translation in the Chinese version and also in the Berkeley Version. According to this translation, God raised Christ from among the dead, seated Him in the heavens, subjected everything under His feet, and then appointed Him to be the Head of all things for the church.
The significance of the third way of translating this verse is higher than the second and lower than the first. Of the three ways of translating Ephesians 1:22, the second way is the poorest.
After considering this matter carefully, I still prefer to follow the first way. God raised Christ from among the dead, seated Him in the heavens, subjected all things under His feet, and, eventually, gave Him a great gift. Vincent says that the word “gave” in verse 22 does not mean appointed or made; instead, it means to give something as a gift. Therefore, this verse is saying that God gave something to Christ. What did God give Him? God gave Him the headship over all things. After raising Christ from the dead, seating Him in the heavens, and subjecting all things under His feet, God gave Him the great gift of the headship over all things.
This way of translating Ephesians 1:22 is logical, significant, and correct. Man condemned Christ and sentenced Him to death. But God came in to raise Him up, to seat Him in the heavens, to subject all things under His feet, and to give Him to be the Head over all things. The headship over all things was the gift given to Christ by God.
The best translation of the second part of Ephesians 1:22 is: “gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” If Paul had concluded Ephesians 1 by saying that God gave Christ to be Head over all things, Christ’s ascension would not have anything to do with the church. Paul, however, added the important phrase “to the church.” As we have pointed out, this phrase implies a transmission. Whatever Christ, the Head, has attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body.
We need to see that the phrase “to the church” indicates that all that Christ is in His ascension is being transmitted to the church. Because the divine transmission is not once for all, the church should continually receive this transmission. Electricity may be installed in a building once for all, but the transmission of electricity takes place continually. Likewise, God raised up Christ, seated Him in the heavens, put everything under His feet, and gave Him the great gift of being the Head over all things. Now whatever Christ is in His ascension is being transmitted into the church. This is the continual transmission into the church of the ascended Christ with the full significance of His ascension.
If there is a problem with the transmission of electricity from the power plant into a building, the problem is usually not with the power plant. The problem is with the building, that is, with the receiver. In like manner, there is never a problem with the heavenly power plant; however, often with the church there is a problem concerning the receiving of the divine transmission. Often we may have problems that frustrate the transmission of the divine electricity into us. This transmission is not able to get through to many of today’s Christians. Actually, not many Christians are willing to be fully open to receive this transmission continually.