What is a Federal Head?
A federal head represents a group of people under a federation. A federation is a single group (nation, state, country) with a central government. A central government rests all authority and representation on a single place of power. In short, a federal head exercises authority and acts entirely on behalf of his people. Whatever the federal head decides to do, it acts as a unified body with the group it represents. Our federal headship transfers from Adam to Christ, once we receive Christ as new Christians.
What happens to the head, happens to the body.
Our First Federal Head: Adam
As the first man on earth, Adam was, by default, the chosen Federal Head of the human race. In the beginning, God gave him a command to follow. When he ate the forbidden fruit, he stood in the place of every person on earth. Legally speaking, it was as though you and I ate right there with him. We are all Adam’s descendants, so, whatever he did, we also did in him.
The Effects of Our Representative
Adam brought sin into the picture.
Romans 5:12a KJV
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…
To sin is to disobey God’s command. Adam was the first to do this as the head of the human race.
Sin corrupted our original nature from Adam.
Mark 7:23 KJV
All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Our human nature has been infected with sin; so much so, that it has been called “the sin nature”.
We are born as sinners.
Before we ever tell one lie or commit one sin, our spiritual condition at birth is a sinner. As Adam’s offspring, we inherit his nature and his position with God. This is why even the nicest and sweetest person will still need God’s plan of salvation.
Through Adam, we are born spiritually dead.
God told Adam the consequence for disobeying would be death (Gen. 2:17), but they did not fall dead after the first bite, did they? He was speaking of spiritual death which simply means a separation from God.
Our Need for a New Federal Head
If we stay under our original federal head, we are lost. There is no hope of bringing glory to God or living righteously in Adam. Another term for our corrupted nature is what the Bible calls “the flesh.” There are a great many verses that tell us that our “flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63), “the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8), and several lists of examples of “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21). The Apostle Paul asked a fitting question for us all, “Who will deliver me from this body of death (Rom. 7:24)?”
Our New Representative: Christ
Paul’s answer to his question from above was this: “I thank God through Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is our new legal representative.
Romans 5:14b NLT
...Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
How do we know that Christ is the new Federal Head?
In 1 Cor. 15, Christ is the “Last Adam” and “the second man” in contrast to Adam, the first man. If Christ wasn’t our representative, He would not be able to die for the sins of the whole world. We cannot begin one step into salvation without first recognizing Him as our new representative.
The Court of God
- God is the judge of the whole earth and He is righteous (Gen. 18:25).
- Legally speaking, God deals with two men in this world: Adam and Christ. (We are dealt with based on which one we unite with).
- God judged us in our first representative [Adam] in Genesis. In the wisest and most powerful chess move ever played, God came down Himself to become our new representative in Christ.
Romans 3:26 ESV
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
- God judged us in our Second and Last representative when Christ tasted death for every man on the cross (Heb. 2:9).
- In this way, God remains a fair judge —not overlooking our sins— and He is the one who makes us righteous through Christ.
Everything is in Him
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
- Christ reconciled us back to God. (Rom. 5:10)
- Christ’s death delivered us from our sins. (1 Pet. 2:24)
- Christ delivered us from the law. (Gal. 4:4-5) *more on that later*
- Our entire salvation and promises from God rest on the faith of our new representative.
Studying topic: Look up verses that say “in Christ” or “through Jesus Christ” and see just how much more we have in our new Federal Head.
Christ is as Adam was: Conclusion
If you have difficulty imagining federal headship, try imagining how you are (or were) in Adam. Your personal experience should help you understand the sin nature aspect. When Adam fell, we fell too and inherited the nature of our earthly father. This is all about who is standing in for us. We weren’t there, in the beginning, to represent ourselves; Adam was the overseer of the Earth. We are righteous the same way we were sinners. Another person paid for our sins. Think about how the sin nature exists by Adam and it may open up how things will come to be through salvation in Christ.
Author’s note: A personal application of this study
Federal Headship has helped me better understand walking in the Spirit. The entire work of Christ was done outside of me; I contributed nothing. I was declared a sinner in Adam and I am declared righteous in Christ. The Christian walk begins with “It is finished.” I believe what Christ did two thousand years ago applies to me today. Since I fully believe in Adam’s influence as my representative, it is clear how Christ can be the same.
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