Over All Things

And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22-23

We tend to think far too small. Yes, our human capacity for imagination and invention is immense, but our perspective is still limited to what we can experience with our fallen human faculties. Our every interaction with creation is done so with broken bodies and distracted minds. And while there is much about the world that we constantly uncover, our understanding of reality is limited by time and space and sin.

In Genesis 1, God tasks His image bearers with subduing the earth and gives them dominion over His creation. However, this “creation mandate,” and our ability to carry it out, is tempered by our finitude. Man and woman were made to be heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). This co-regency, this participation in God’s Kingdom as co-creators, as little kings and queens, is God’s ultimate intent for us. But tragically, ever since Genesis 3, we’ve fallen short. We now set our sights far short of all God would have for us.

This is particularly why Ephesians 1:22-23 stands out so boldly as a declaration of unparalleled majesty and dominion. Words scarcely communicate the grandeur of Paul’s statement. Crowned with glory and honor, with everything in subjection under His feet. This is not simply Jesus given power over one particular time or place. Jesus is not simply given dominion over 1st-century Jerusalem. Paul reminds us here in Ephesians that Christ is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:20-21). All things. For all time. Jesus Christ is the Lord of everything, forever and always. This is where our perspectives will constantly fall far too short.

The scale of Christ’s majesty here is truly unimaginable. To take but a step toward better understanding, know that there are countless trillions of atoms in but a single grain of sand. Every single one of them was created and is held together by Christ (Colossians 1:16-17). Similarly, our Milky Way Galaxy contains anywhere from 100 to 400 billion stars, that many or more planets, and each one a marvel of creative wonder. Each spinning and shining as a declaration of Christ’s power and glory. Christ is truly Lord over all things. It should baffle and scandalize. It should break our brains. Psalm 8, alluded to in Ephesians 1:22-23, puts it wonderfully:

When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,
what is man that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man that You care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet… (Psalm 8:3-6)

“What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” These questions should stick with us. They should point us to their fulfilment: Christ, the head of the Church. Ephesians 1:22-23 should impress us not only because all things are placed under Christ’s feet, but because we, as the Church, are Christ’s body. He does not remain aloof and removed from creation. He draws us close, fills us with life. Despite our frailty and finitude, we are participants in His Kingdom.

We will always fall short of fully comprehending the majesty of Christ, but Ephesians 1:22-23 is a reminder that can be a good thing. Christ is always more wonderful than we can comprehend. Jesus is Lord over all, and it is this Jesus who calls us friend (John 15:15).