P. Derek Overfield PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

powers to Christ and the giving of Christ, the head
of all things, to the Church.
The counter-theme is
concerned with the Divine Plan of Salvation which has
been achieved in Christ and is now operative by means
of the Church.
In this respect vv. 20-23 function as
a natural continuation and elaboration of v.IO in that
in them the author asserts that it is now the function
of the Church to bring about this previously determined
unity.
In this way it is seen that both these ~hemes
are brought together in the interpretation of v.23 that
we have suggested:
that of inclusive personality, such
that for the author of the epistle "the whole p~ocess
of redemption and reconciliation is seen as incorporation
into the Body of Christ, a reversal of the principle
familiar to the Old Testament that the remnant or One may
represent the Many.
The Many now represent the One
(Christ) through the Church".65 An~ so it is that
what God has done in Christ becomes a reality in the
Church, the theme of which dominates the author to such
an extent that no longer is the Church seen as part of
the continuing contrast merely to the existing world
at anyone time in history but the Church has now
become an independent theme vis-a-vis cosmology in
that in the Church, and only in the Church, have the
cosmic powers been defeated and total reconciliation
achieved.
Integral to this is the author's conception
of the ascension of Christ as one that can be shared
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