Meaning
besides its natural significance, is used (a) figuratively in Rom 12:20, of heaping coals of fire on a "head" (see COALS); in Act 18:6, "Your blood be upon your own heads," i.e., "your blood-guiltiness rest upon your own persons," a mode of expression frequent in the OT, and perhaps here directly connected with Eze 3:18, Eze 3:20, Eze 33:6, Eze 33:8; see also Lev 20:16, 2Sa 1:16, 1Ki 2:37; (b) metaphorically, of the authority or direction of God in relation to Christ, of Christ in relation to believing men, of the husband in relation to the wife, 1Co 11:3; of Christ in relation to the Church, Eph 1:22, Eph 4:15, Eph 5:23, Col 1:18, Col 2:19; of Christ in relation to principalities and powers, Col 2:10. As to 1Co 11:10, taken in connection with the context, the word "authority" probably stands, by metonymy, for a sign of authority (RV), the angels being witnesses of the preeminent relationship as established by God in the creation of man as just mentioned, with the spiritual significance regarding the position of Christ in relation to the Church; cp. Eph 3:10; it is used of Christ as the foundation of the spiritual building set forth by the Temple, with its "corner stone," Mat 21:42; symbolically also of the imperial rulers of the Roman power, as seen in the apocalyptic visions, Rev 13:1, Rev 13:3, Rev 17:3, Rev 17:7, Rev 17:9.
