and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, `And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, `And to thy seed,' which is Christ;
And himself is the head of the body -- the assembly -- who is a beginning, a first-born out of the dead, that he might become in all `things' -- himself -- first,
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly,
and not holding the head, from which all the body -- through the joints and bands gathering supply, and being knit together -- may increase with the increase of God.