HEAD OF THE CHURCH, the tr. of a phrase occurring in Ephesians 5:23 only, Gr. κεφαλὴ̀ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, “head of the church” but supported by similar phrases in Ephesians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 11:3 and esp. Colossians 1:18 where occurs Gr. ἡ κεφαλὴ̀ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας, “the head of the body, the church.” These phrases in each case are mentioned incidentally to some other argument, usually the proper place of women in the congregation and the home, a besetting problem in all ages, and as a phrase in a doxological context. The phrase has reference to the lordship of Christ as the risen exalted head of the congregation of God, a figure derived from the OT (Ps 2:7, 8; 72:7, 8; Dan 7:13, 14; et al.), and reinforced by several events in the gospel narratives (Matt 17:1-9; John 1:32-34 cf. Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36). The phrase appears to have been a common one in the Church and it is used by the Gr. and Lat. Church Fathers. In the Medieval era after the declaration of the Bulla, Unam Sanctum (a.d. 1302) such vv. were assumed to increase papal power, a thesis rejected by the reformers.