# Commentary on Ephesians Word Study – Head > *Head* (Eph 5:23) – *Kephalē* (Gk.): \"head\". The term is found 75 times in the NT and numerous times in the Greek OT. It can refer to the physical \"head\" of a man (Mt 5:36), animal (Gen 3:15), or statue (Dan 2:32). It can also mean \"ruler\" or \"leader\", as when King David is called the head of the nations (Ps 18:43) and when Christ is called the head of all things (Eph 1:22). Other ancient texts attest the meaning \"source\" or \"origin\", as when Herodotus refers to the headwaters of a river (*Histories* 4, 91), when the Jewish philosopher Philo describes Esau as the progenitor of his entire clan (On the *Preliminary Studies* 12, 61), and when the Jewish author of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs identifies deceitful spirits as the source of youthful misbehavior (*Testament of Reuben* 2, 2). Paul uses this term in his teaching on marriage to encourage husbands to be heads or leaders within the home as Christ is head over the Church (1 Cor 11:3; Eph 5:23). As the context of these passages shows, Paul views marital headship through the creation narratives of Genesis, where Adam was both the head and source of his wife, Eve (Gen 2:21-23), just as Christ is the head and source of the Church (Eph 4:15-16; Col 2:19). For Paul, then, the Body of Christ can be pictured as the *torso* of Christ (anatomical image) as well as the *bride* of Christ (marital image). For more on this Pauline theme, see note on 1 Cor 12:2. --- > Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, *The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament*, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010).