Ephesians 1:22-23
(22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
(23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV)

There are some Trinitarians who assert that the last phrase of verse 23 proves the Trinity. Not so, for there is no mention of any Trinitarian concept such as “three-in-one.” This verse clearly teaches that God was the one who “appointed” Christ to be over the Church. Surely if Christ were a co-equal part of God, he needed no such appointment, because by nature he would already have been over the Church. The way to properly understand this verse is to read it with a standard sense of the word “appointment.” If Christ were “appointed” to the position of “Head” over the Church, then it is obvious that he would not have been “Head” without the appointment, which could not be true if Christ were God.

Again the context is the great key in discovering what a verse is saying. The context of the last phrase is plainly given in the words immediately before it: “the church, which is his body.” Christ does indeed fill everything in every way for his Church, as other verses in the New Testament verify. We know, however, that Christ’s authority stretches even beyond his Church, for God gave “all authority” to him (Matt. 28:18). Thus, it is possible, although the context of this verse would not demand it, that it refers to the wide-ranging authority that God gave to Christ. This verse does not prove the Trinity, it simply confirms what other scriptures teach, i.e., that Christ is the Head of his Body, the Church, that God has set everything under his feet, that he is Lord and that he has been given all authority.

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