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Catholic Commentary
Christ's Exaltation: Lord Over All Things and Head of the Church
20which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,21far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.22He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:20–23 describes Christ's resurrection and exaltation to God's right hand, where he sits above all cosmic powers and authorities, both present and future. The passage emphasizes that Christ's universal lordship is inseparably connected to his role as head of the Church, his body, through which his cosmic authority becomes visible and active in history.
Christ's resurrection didn't just save souls in heaven—it enthroned him as absolute Lord over every power in the cosmos, and made the Church the visible presence of that kingship on earth right now.
Catholic tradition has drawn on this passage with remarkable depth and consistency across centuries of teaching.
On the Resurrection as Source of All Power: St. John Chrysostom, preaching on this text, marveled that Paul grounds Christian hope not in abstract doctrine but in an event — "he raised him from the dead" — insisting that what God did for the Head, he promises to do for the members. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§648–649) echoes this: the Resurrection is the Father's supreme act of power, and it is the same power now at work in the sacramental life of the Church.
On Christ's Kingship: Pius XI's encyclical Quas Primas (1925), establishing the Feast of Christ the King, draws explicitly on this passage's claim that Christ reigns over "all things" in every age. The encyclical insists this kingship is not merely spiritual but extends to societies, cultures, and political orders — any claim that Christ's lordship is purely private contradicts the scope of verse 21.
On the Church as Body and Fullness: The Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium §7 cites verse 23 directly when defining the nature of the Church: "the fullness of him who fills the whole creation." The Council Fathers understood the plērōma not as the Church's self-sufficiency but as her mission — she is the ongoing presence of the glorified Christ in history. St. Thomas Aquinas (Commentary on Ephesians, Lecture 8) explains the headship in terms of the four properties of a head: primacy of place, sensory perception, governance, and the flow of vital spirit — all of which Christ exercises toward his Body. The Catechism (§792) affirms: "Christ is the Head of this Body. He is the source of its life and growth."
On the Two-Age Schema: The phrase "not only in this age but in that which is to come" is a pillar of Catholic eschatology's rejection of any theology that confines Christ's reign to an inner or purely future realm. His lordship is already operative, demanding the transformation of the present order.
For a contemporary Catholic, these four verses cut against two powerful cultural currents simultaneously. The first is the privatization of faith — the assumption that religion occupies only the personal or interior sphere while public life operates by other lords. Paul's declaration that Christ reigns above "every name that is named, not only in this age" dismantles any such compartmentalization. Every professional, political, and social domain the Catholic inhabits is territory already claimed by the risen Christ, not waiting to be claimed.
The second is the temptation to treat the Church as merely instrumental — a vendor of spiritual services — rather than as the Body through which the exalted Lord concretely fills the world. When a Catholic participates in the Eucharist, acts of charity, or sacramental life, they are not merely practicing private piety; they are functioning as the plērōma, the fullness and active presence of the cosmic Christ in a specific place and time. This passage invites an examination of conscience: Am I living as a member of his Body, or as a consumer of his services? The exaltation of Christ is not a spectator event — it is the foundation of the Church's entire mission and the vocation of every baptized person.
Commentary
Verse 20 — Raised and Enthroned Paul's prayer in 1:15–23 reaches its theological apex here. The antecedent of "which he worked" reaches back to the "working of his mighty strength" (v. 19), tethering the Church's hope directly to two historical, bodily acts: the Resurrection and the Session at God's right hand. "Made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places" (en tois epouraniois) is drawn almost verbatim from Psalm 110:1 — the most-quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament — and echoes the royal enthronement psalms. The phrase "heavenly places" (used five times in Ephesians, uniquely) is not a spatial abstraction but a theological realm that overlaps with earthly reality: it is where Christ reigns, where spiritual warfare occurs (6:12), and where the Church is already seated with him (2:6). The Resurrection is thus not merely a past miracle but the engine of present cosmic lordship.
Verse 21 — Above Every Name and Power The four-term list — "rule, authority, power, dominion" (archē, exousia, dynamis, kyriotēs) — represents the full hierarchy of angelic and demonic powers in first-century Jewish cosmology, a world in which invisible forces were thought to govern nations, elements, and fate. Paul systematically relativizes every such claim. Christ's exaltation is not one rank among many; it is categorically superior. The addition "every name that is named" is a sweeping catch-all: any power that has or will have a title is already beneath him. The temporal extension — "not only in this age but also in that which is to come" — collapses the Jewish two-age schema: Christ's sovereignty is not an eschatological promise still pending; it is a present, uncontested reality that stretches into eternity. No force, spiritual or political, ancient or modern, stands outside his dominion.
Verse 22a — All Things Under His Feet The imagery of "all things in subjection under his feet" fuses Psalm 110:1 ("until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet") with Psalm 8:6 ("You have put all things under his feet"), a combination Paul uses similarly in 1 Corinthians 15:25–27. In Psalm 8, the "son of man" figure who receives dominion over creation is now identified with the risen Christ, completing the trajectory from Adam's original dominion (Genesis 1:28) through its failure to its recovery in the New Adam. The "all things" (ta panta) is not merely spiritual: it encompasses the material cosmos, history, principalities, and death itself.
Verse 22b–23 — Head of the Church, Fullness of All The shift from universal lordship to ecclesial headship is the theological hinge of the entire passage. God did not exalt Christ in isolation; he "gave him" (edōken auton) to the Church as her Head. The Greek verb suggests an act of gift and entrusting — Christ's cosmic authority is specifically oriented toward, and expressed through, his Body. "Head" (kephalē) in Pauline usage carries both the idea of authority and of source and sustaining life (see Col. 1:18; 2:19). The Church as Christ's "body" is not a metaphor of mere organization but of organic, living union. Most striking is the final clause: the Church is called "the fullness (plērōma) of him who fills all in all." Plērōma was a term loaded with cosmological resonance. Paul inverts its usual usage: Christ, who fills the entire cosmos, is himself completed or expressed through the Church. This does not diminish Christ but reveals a staggering vocation given to the Church — she is the locus in history where Christ's universal lordship becomes visible, embodied, and active.