Household: Household Code Lost in Translation: Kephale

We have now examined the household codes in 1 Peter and Titus. It is time to turn to the household codes presented in Ephesians and Colossians. These codes present a major challenge because of a one-word metaphor: kephale, meaning "head." The word is used several times in the New Testament, and most instances refer to an actual physical head. But there are eleven instances where head is used metaphorically, and two are in the Ephesians' household code (Ephesians 5:23).

A whole theology of "headship" has built up around this metaphor. Husbands are told to be in authority because Ephesians says they are to be the "head" of the house, and women are to submit to their husband's "headship." In other words, "head" is synonymous with "rule" or "authority." Now many who hold to this understanding insist on what is called "soft patriarchy." There is to be leadership by the husband, but it is of servant-leadership variety, not domination.

This is not an unreasonable reading of the passage if we rely upon our Western English metaphors for the word "head." The human head is where the brain resides and directs the body's functioning. The "head" of a corporation or government has the power to "call the shots," just like a physical head controls the body. Therefore, when we read Ephesians 5:23 and see, "For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior," the teaching is clear. The husband is to be in authority over his wife, as Christ is in authority over the church. But please note the "if" in the first sentence of this paragraph: …if we rely upon our Western English metaphors for the word "head."

This raises a critical question: Would Greek-speaking people have had the same understanding of "head" metaphors that we do? While there is overlap, the answer is no.

Let us start with physical anthropology. We routinely contrast "head" and "heart" as "rational" and "emotional," respectively. But in Greek, rational thought, emotions, and will metaphorically come from the heart. In fact, borrowing from Hebrew anthropology, Jesus suggests that he will metaphorically investigate another bodily organ to learn our innermost character:

And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds (nephros) and hearts (kardias), … Rev 2:23

Nephros is literally "kidneys" and figuratively "innermost thoughts."

Search all you want to in the New Testament, you will not find one instance of "head" as a metaphor for reason or bodily control. Search for "heart/hearts," and you will find it used metaphorically for actions we view as coming from the heart and head. Luke 2:19 says, "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her …" Head? No. "…heart." In his book about Mary, Scot McKnight points out that "pondered in the heart" is precisely the language that would be used to describe the work of Rabbis and teachers as they reflected on events and tried to make coherent sense of them. This was not Mary sentimentally emoting about what had happened to her.

Greek anthropology does not match ours. "Head" was not the controlling organ of the body. But could head still have meant "one who exercises authority or rules?" Yes. In fact, it had this metaphorical connotation in both Hebrew and Latin, just as it does in English. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English seem to have some metaphorical similarities. Head can mean the beginning point: "The headwaters of a river." It can mean preeminence: "The valedictorian was at the head of her class." It can mean first in position: "He raced to the ticket window so he could be at the head of the line." It can mean prominence: "The theater attendant took a head count." ("Head" represents the whole person, being the most visible and distinguishing characteristic of a person.) So what about "ruler" or "authority?"

Gordon Fee writes:

The clearest evidence for the real differences between the Jewish and Greek metaphorical uses is to be found in the Septuagint (LXX). In the hundreds of places where the Hebrew rosh is used for the literal head on a body, the translators invariably used the only word in Greek that means the same thing, kephale. But in the approximately 180 times it appears as a metaphor for the leader or chieftain, they almost always [six exceptions] eliminate the metaphor altogether and translate it arche (“leader”), which is evidence that they were uncomfortable with (unfamiliar with?) the Jewish metaphor and simply translated it out. (“Praying and Prophesying in the Assemblies” in Discovering Biblical Equality. 150, fn 28)

In a similar analysis, Andrew Perriman finds eleven cases where a metaphorical use of rosh was translated kephale in the Septuagint, but none of the examples carry the connotation of authority or ruler. More on that later. Further evidence comes from the language surrounding the "ruler of the synagogue" in first-century Judaism. The Hebrew title is rosh ha-keneset or "head" (rosh) "of the assembly" (ha-keneset). If kephale carried the same metaphorical meaning in Greek, we would expect to find a title that combined kephale and synagoge (the gathering). But instead, we find archisynagogos, or "leader/ruler" (arche) of "the assembly" (synagogos).

Therefore, to truly understand the household code in Ephesians 5 and 6, we must wrestle a bit with the "head" metaphor. Looking at the "head" metaphor in Greek outside the New Testament will help us better understand the biblical metaphor. There are two predominant views among those who reject the head=ruler metaphor. One sees "head" used to symbolize "origin" and "source." The other believes it is "preeminence" and "prominence." Both interpretations are at work in biblical metaphors, but I suspect that the preeminence and prominence metaphor is the primary image. I will unfold this in coming posts, but first, I have cataloged the fictive head references in the New Testament. Paul uses ten and one by Peter (assuming traditional authorship.)

1 Cor 11:3

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ.

Eph 1:22-23

22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Eph 4:15-16

15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body,  joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

Eph 5:22-23

22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.

Col 1:18

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

Col 2:9-10

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

Col 2:18-19

18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

1 Peter 2:6-7

6 For it stands in scripture:

"See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

"The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner, ..."

Series Index

Comments

[kerryn]

Thanks for your great summaries and insights on these household passages Michael.

You present your thoughts clearly and logically and it makes so much sense to me as I read through it all.

One of the biggest challenges I find in discussing the whole issue of 'headship' and women in ministry is the 'emotion' that is involved... not just with the women either! but from the (normally) 'mild mannered' husbands who have had 'traditional' up-bringings in which they have been taught over and over again - both directly and indirectly - that as the 'head' they have some kind of special spiritual leadership over their wife... the greatest irony is that many marriages around me are in 'practice' actually very 'egalitarian' - even though the husbands supposedly 'theologically' hold to male leadership over the wife.
it just seems to hard to divorce our 'feelings' from the discussion as we approach the scriptures...

looking forwards to the Eph post!

many thanks
Kerryn

[Michael W. Kruse]

Thanks Kerryn!

I agree with you about how most people actually live versus what they say. These issues touch on areas that are deeply part of our identities and I think that makes it very hard to dispassionately examine what the Word says.

The next few posts are going to be on "head." I start back up on Thursday.

[J. K. Gayle]

Michael, I think you are on to something here. And in a big way you inspired my post "Heart and Soul" at http://speakeristic.blogspot.com/. Don't you think the Hebrews conceived of kidneys and heart in much the same way? And the Hellenes of the two organs, perhaps, in contrast? Looking forward to your next post on this topic!
J.K.

[Peter Kirk]

For some reason you don't seem to have got a trackback from a post at Better Bibles Blog which refers to this one as "excellent".

[Michael W. Kruse]

Thanks for the link J. K. I think the Hebrews understood kidneys in a similar way. Heart, bowels and kidneys all seem very similar and the same with the Greeks, though I'm not expert and there could be nuances I haven't captured.

I'll have more in the morning and I'll link your post then. I don't consider myself an expert on all this. This is my attempt to make sense of all this after years of struggling with it.

Peter, thank for Suzzane's link. I actually have one of her posts linked in my next post.