Sect. 189Christ as the Natural and Supernatural Head of All CreaturesChrist as the Natural and Supernatural Head of All Creatures
I. By His human origin Christ is like and akin to the sons of Adam; He is a member of the great human corporation (Heb. 2:11 sqq.), and occupies a place in the created universe. But, by reason of His Divine Personality, He is “the image and likeness of God” to a degree unapproached by either man or angel. Moreover, men and angels and all things have been created “in,” that is, “by and for” Him. He, then, “is the first-born of every creature … the head of the body” (Col. 1:15–17; cf. § 183, III. 3). His superiority rests upon His belonging to a higher order than His brethren; whence He ranks above them as they rank above the animal and material creation, and not merely as a king ranks above his subjects.
II. The practical object of Christ’s headship is not only to place the universe, and especially mankind, under a Divine king: it is the intention of God and the will of Christ that the Incarnation should establish between the First-born and His brethren a real kinship or affinity, Christ becoming the Head of the human family, and the human family acquiring a title to participate in the supernatural privileges of their Head. “When the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4, 5; cf. Rom. 8:29). When, in the virginal womb of Mary, the Word espoused human flesh, all human flesh became akin to Him; all men acquired affinity to the Man-God and fellowship in His exalted privileges: “we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). The idea that Christ by taking flesh “espoused” not only the Church, but all mankind, is often dwelt upon by the Fathers. See St. Augustine, In Joan., ar. 1, ch. 2; St. Gregory the Great, Hom. xxxvii. in Ezechielem; St. Leo the Great, Sermo xvi. in Nativ.; St. Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. in Joan., i. 14, etc.
III. The name “Head,” so frequently given by St. Paul to Christ, is, speaking strictly, but a figure of speech; but, like the name Christ, it has a dogmatic significance. The Apostle connects it with our Lord’s Divinity; the Fathers and theologians with the plenitude of Holiness and Grace, of which He is the fountain. Christ is Head in the moral and in the physical sense: head of the human family, head of the mystical body, the Church. Both senses are used by St. Paul. “God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings … in Christ.… He hath graced us (ἐχαρίτωσεν) in His beloved Son … that He might make known to us the mystery of His will … to re-establish all things in Christ, which are in heaven and on earth, in Him.… Raising Him up from the dead and setting Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality, and power, and vrtue, and dominion … and He hath put all things under His feet, and hath made Him head over all the Church, which is His body, and the fulness of Him who is filled all in all” (Eph. 1:3–23). “God hath quickened us together in Christ … and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places through (ἐν) Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5, 6). “That we may in all things grow up in Him (εἰς αὐτὸν) Who is the head, Christ: from Whom the whole body being compacted and fitly joined together by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity” (Eph. 4:15, 16. See also Eph. 2:19–21; 5:22 sqq.; Col. 1:13–20, 23, 24; 2:8–10, 18, 19; 1 Cor. 12:12).
Christ is the Head of mankind as man, yet not by reason of some accidental perfection or external appointment: He heads the race by reason of the substantial perfection imparted to Him through the Logos, just as the head—the seat of reason—is the noblest part of the body. Again, Christ’s headship being founded upon His supernatural excellence, He is our “supersubstantial” Head, to whom all the properties and functions of the natural head belong in an eminently equivalent degree. Whatever dignity accrues to the bodily head from its being the seat of the soul’s chief activity—whatever power of influencing, governing, and unifying the other members is possessed by the head—the same dignity and power belong to Christ as Head in relation to mankind. His Divine Principle works on man in general, and especially on the members of the Church, with a power more perfect than that of the soul in the individual man. “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally; and you are filled in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:10; cf. Eph. 1:22, 23).
IV. Adam, the first head of mankind, was a type of the Second Head inasmuch as he was the principle of natural life, the intended transmitter of supernatural life; and, in this respect, he acted on behalf of the whole human race. But, whereas Adam is the earthly, animal, and guilty head of the race, Christ is its heavenly, spiritual, and substantially holy Head. Adam is the principle of the material unity of mankind; Christ is much more the principle of its spiritual unity. Adam was a precarious mediator of supernatural life; Christ is its essential and unchangeable mediator. Hence Christ not only supplements the failings of the first head, but completes and perfects the headship. The first head, then, was, as it were, the material root of the race which was to be incorporated in and brought to perfection by Christ, its real principle and final object (τέλος). Cf. 1 Cor. 15:45 sqq.; Peter Lomb., 3, dist 13; St. Thomas, 3, q. 8.
I. By His human origin Christ is like and akin to the sons of Adam; He is a member of the great human corporation (Heb. 2:11 sqq.), and occupies a place in the created universe. But, by reason of His Divine Personality, He is “the image and likeness of God” to a degree unapproached by either man or angel. Moreover, men and angels and all things have been created “in,” that is, “by and for” Him. He, then, “is the first-born of every creature … the head of the body” (Col. 1:15–17; cf. § 183, III. 3). His superiority rests upon His belonging to a higher order than His brethren; whence He ranks above them as they rank above the animal and material creation, and not merely as a king ranks above his subjects.
II. The practical object of Christ’s headship is not only to place the universe, and especially mankind, under a Divine king: it is the intention of God and the will of Christ that the Incarnation should establish between the First-born and His brethren a real kinship or affinity, Christ becoming the Head of the human family, and the human family acquiring a title to participate in the supernatural privileges of their Head. “When the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4, 5; cf. Rom. 8:29). When, in the virginal womb of Mary, the Word espoused human flesh, all human flesh became akin to Him; all men acquired affinity to the Man-God and fellowship in His exalted privileges: “we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). The idea that Christ by taking flesh “espoused” not only the Church, but all mankind, is often dwelt upon by the Fathers. See St. Augustine, In Joan., ar. 1, ch. 2; St. Gregory the Great, Hom. xxxvii. in Ezechielem; St. Leo the Great, Sermo xvi. in Nativ.; St. Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. in Joan., i. 14, etc.
III. The name “Head,” so frequently given by St. Paul to Christ, is, speaking strictly, but a figure of speech; but, like the name Christ, it has a dogmatic significance. The Apostle connects it with our Lord’s Divinity; the Fathers and theologians with the plenitude of Holiness and Grace, of which He is the fountain. Christ is Head in the moral and in the physical sense: head of the human family, head of the mystical body, the Church. Both senses are used by St. Paul. “God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings … in Christ.… He hath graced us (ἐχαρίτωσεν) in His beloved Son … that He might make known to us the mystery of His will … to re-establish all things in Christ, which are in heaven and on earth, in Him.… Raising Him up from the dead and setting Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality, and power, and vrtue, and dominion … and He hath put all things under His feet, and hath made Him head over all the Church, which is His body, and the fulness of Him who is filled all in all” (Eph. 1:3–23). “God hath quickened us together in Christ … and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places through (ἐν) Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5, 6). “That we may in all things grow up in Him (εἰς αὐτὸν) Who is the head, Christ: from Whom the whole body being compacted and fitly joined together by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity” (Eph. 4:15, 16. See also Eph. 2:19–21; 5:22 sqq.; Col. 1:13–20, 23, 24; 2:8–10, 18, 19; 1 Cor. 12:12).
Christ is the Head of mankind as man, yet not by reason of some accidental perfection or external appointment: He heads the race by reason of the substantial perfection imparted to Him through the Logos, just as the head—the seat of reason—is the noblest part of the body. Again, Christ’s headship being founded upon His supernatural excellence, He is our “supersubstantial” Head, to whom all the properties and functions of the natural head belong in an eminently equivalent degree. Whatever dignity accrues to the bodily head from its being the seat of the soul’s chief activity—whatever power of influencing, governing, and unifying the other members is possessed by the head—the same dignity and power belong to Christ as Head in relation to mankind. His Divine Principle works on man in general, and especially on the members of the Church, with a power more perfect than that of the soul in the individual man. “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally; and you are filled in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:10; cf. Eph. 1:22, 23).
IV. Adam, the first head of mankind, was a type of the Second Head inasmuch as he was the principle of natural life, the intended transmitter of supernatural life; and, in this respect, he acted on behalf of the whole human race. But, whereas Adam is the earthly, animal, and guilty head of the race, Christ is its heavenly, spiritual, and substantially holy Head. Adam is the principle of the material unity of mankind; Christ is much more the principle of its spiritual unity. Adam was a precarious mediator of supernatural life; Christ is its essential and unchangeable mediator. Hence Christ not only supplements the failings of the first head, but completes and perfects the headship. The first head, then, was, as it were, the material root of the race which was to be incorporated in and brought to perfection by Christ, its real principle and final object (τέλος). Cf. 1 Cor. 15:45 sqq.; Peter Lomb., 3, dist 13; St. Thomas, 3, q. 8.
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