CHRIST SUPREME AND THE GIFT OF THE GOSPEL
Colossians 1:15-23
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians 1:15-23 (NIV)
Colossians main emphasis is the exaltation and preeminence of Christ the Redeemer. Glorious things in the first four verses are here stated of Him – seven (number of completion) unique characteristics are mentioned which fittingly qualify Him to have “the Supremacy”. Paul speaks of Him as both God and mediator. There is no comparable listing of so many characteristics of Christ and His Deity are found in any other Scripture passage. He is the Supreme Sovereign of the universe:
1. Image of the Invisible God:
Besides the obvious meaning of “likeness”, referred to in 2 Corinthians as well which states:
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV)
“Image” implies representation and manifestation. Like the head of a sovereign imprinted on a coin, so Christ is the exact representation of the Father’s being. The writer of Hebrews tells us:
3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)
As Jesus stated, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Christ was the visible manifestation of the invisible God. It is important to note that the word “image” does not always denote a perfect image – the context here demands that understanding – it means the very substance or essential embodiment of something of someone:
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV)
Christ’s supremacy is first shown in His relationship with God the Father.
2. The Firstborn over creation:
Christ’s supremacy is next shown in His relationship to creation. Firstborn over all creation denotes two things of Christ:
Scriptural way of representing eternity. It signifies Christ’s dominion over all things as in Old Testament times the firstborn in a family was heir and lord of all. The firstborn child had not only priority of birth but also the dignity and superiority that went with it. The first offspring of every womb of man and beast was to be dedicated/consecrated to God in remembrance of being delivered from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Symbolically, Jesus being called the Firstborn reminds us of our deliverance from slavery as well. Firstborn implies Christ’s priority to all creation (in time) and His sovereignty over all creation (in rank).
3. The Creator of the universe:
He is the Creator of all things – by Him (Instrumental cause) – For Him (Final cause) and held together in Him (Conserving cause). Christ is not only the One through Whom all things came to be, but also the one by Whom they continue to exist. In Him all things hold together. The whole creation is kept together by the power of the Son of God.
He is the end as well as the cause of all things. He is before all things. He had a being before the world was made, and therefore from eternity. He not only had a being before He was born of the virgin, but He had a being before all time.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:1-3 (NIV)
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. Hebrews 1:2 (NIV)
The Son’s creation includes all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible – entire universe – material and immaterial – the hierarchy of angelic beings which indicate a highly organized dominion in the spirit world – a sphere in which the Colossians were engaged in the worship of angels and over which Christ reigns supreme. All the rulers of this dark world Christ rules over.
4. The Head of the church:
He is the Lord of the universe and the church’s Head. Paul tells us in Ephesians:
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Ephesians 1:22-23 (NIV)
This reference here is to the invisible or universal church into which all believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit the moment they believe in Christ:
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NIV)
In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come and go but New Testament believers are sealed with the Spirit:
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 (NIV)
5. Firstborn from the dead:
Christ is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. Christ was the first to rise in an immortal body and as such heads a whole new order as its sovereign since, unlike others, He rose never to die again. He was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead – the principle of our resurrection. The first and only One who rose by His own power and has given us evidence of our resurrection from the dead:
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV)
Christ continues to live “on the basis of the power of an indestructible life
16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. Hebrews 7:16 (NIV)
All this is so that in everything He might have the supremacy. He is preeminent. The same eternal Logos (John 1:1) Who became flesh (John 1:14) and humbled Himself (Philippians 2:8) is now exalted by God the Father to the highest place and has been given the Name that is above every Name (Philippians 2:9).
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. John 1:1-2 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, Philippians 2:8-9 (NIV)
6. The Fullness of God:
All the fullness of God dwells in Christ. Colossians 2:9 is the most powerful description of Christ in the New Testament:
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Colossians 2:9 (NIV)
Fullness – key word in Colossians – means completeness and is used in a wide range of things including God’s being, time and grace in Christ. The full and complete Deity is said to dwell in Christ.
7. The Reconciler of all things:
Christ is the Reconciler of all things. Through Him God will reconcile to Himself all things. “All things” is limited to good angels and redeemed people since only things on earth and things in heaven are mentioned. It is important to note that people are reconciled to God (to Himself) not that God is reconciled to people. Mankind left God and needs a way to be brought back to Him. If we are redeemed, we must be redeemed from sin; and this is through forgiveness. Christ is the mediator of reconciliation, who procures peace as well as pardon for sinners, and will bring all holy creatures into one blessed society at last: whether things on earth or things in heaven. Reconciliation was used by Paul in a judicial versus an actual sense in which the whole world is made savable through Christ’s death. To make peace through His blood means to cause those who were God’s enemies to become, by faith, His friends and His children. There was such a value in the blood of Christ that on account of Christ’s shedding it, God was willing to deal with men on new terms to pardon and accept into His favor all who would comply with them.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:11-13 (NIV)
Reconciliation is necessary because people are alienated (cut off – estranged) from life and God:
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. Ephesians 4:18-19 (NIV)
Before conversion the Colossians believers were enemies also and hostile to God in their minds and behavior – internally and externally. Sin begins in the mind moves to the heart and then to the hands. Inward hostility reflects in their outward actions. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians he had been given the ministry of reconciliation:
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (NIV)
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins therefore it was necessary that Jesus had to come in the flesh:
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 1 John 4:2 (NIV). Spirits cannot die and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness:
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)
Christ’s physical body and death were necessary for man’s salvation. Christ’s death is the basis for our judicial justification, progressive sanctification and ultimate glorification:
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 (NIV)
Christians are without blemish (blameless) free from accusation – unaccused, free from all charges. Satan is the accuser of the brethren whereas Christ is their Advocate\Defense before the Father. Therefore by the merits of Christ believers are free from every charge. In Christ, the accused are unaccused and the condemned are freed.
“We have a God who sees hearts like we see faces, a God who hears ache like we hear voices, and we have a God who touches wounds like we touch skin. No one’s crazy can change God’s crazy love. Jesus died to save us not to make us safe. No one ever got saved unless someone else was unsafe.” Ann Voskamp
This reconciliation in Christ comes only by an abiding faith – “If you continue in your faith”. The Colossians had a settled faith – established, grounded, firm – like a building on a strong foundation therefore, Paul did not doubt that they would continue. Indeed, he spoke of the hope (confident expectation) which this gospel of reconciliation provides not only them but to the whole world (every creature under heaven).
Review Salvation – Man’s Desperate Need of It:
All have sinned: Romans 3:23: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 (NIV)
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12 (NIV)
Wages of sin:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV)
God’s demonstration of love:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” John 3:16-18 (NIV)
Our Acceptance:
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” Romans 10:8-11 (NIV)
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 (NIV)
These are Beth’s personal notes, due to this fact sources are not often stated.
