Jesus The Head of the Body

Closely related to the idea of Christ as "The Stone" is the parallel idea of Him as "the Head of the Body".  It is found in Colossians 1:18 and in variant forms in Colossians 2:19, Ephesians 1:22f., 4:15, and 5:2,3. ...In these passages the relationship between Christ and the community is singularly direct, and in terms of the Spirit the same corporate sense prevails in 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Do you know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  The more personal aspect appears in 1 Corinthians 6:15, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?", which refers to the individual members of the Church and their common relationship to Christ.  The same is also probably true of the Eucharistic sayings, 1 Corinthians 10:16, which speaks of "a participation in the body of Christ", and 1 Corinthians 11:29, "He that eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he discerns not the body".

...We understand the Church as the Body of Christ.  It is a living entity indwelt by Him.  The Church has its life guided and ruled by Christ as He is seated at the right hand of God. 

...The name "the Head" asserts Christ's inseparability from the church, but excludes His identity with it.  As the Head, He unites the Body, renews its life, and directs its functions.  The mutual relations between the Head and the Body are very dynamic.  The two together form a living organism.  Each part belongs to the whole, and is essential to the whole.  Indeed, there is a sense in which each member can represent the whole, while still subordinate to the Head.  As the Head, Christ rules, but His commands are operative only in the obedience of the members of the Body.  ...This view does not mean that Christ, or His revelation, is imperfect, but that He limits His activity by the living medium of its expression.

In this teaching our primary interest is the fact that the Church is the Body of Christ, and that in relation to it He is "the Head".  In this title the same communal relationship is manifest as in the names "the Bridegroom", "the Stone", and "the Son of Man".  And further, as in these names, so also in "the Head", a suprahuman person and function is described.  In no vital or organic sense can any man be Head of the Church; the only tolerable Head is Christ, the Divine Lord.

-excerpt taken from The Names of Jesus by Vincent Taylor pg 100-102

Jesus The Head of the Body Pt 2

Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
for in Christ all things were created, in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or authorities—
all things were created through Christ and for Christ.

Christ is before all things,
and in Christ all things hold together.

Christ is the head of the body, the church;
Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything Christ might be preeminent.

For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through Christ all things are reconciled to God,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of Christ's cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

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