Tuesday, September 26th, 2023

Scripture: Col. 1:18 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.

Col.1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

Col. 1:20 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.

Teaching: Having asserted Christ’s relation to deity and Creation, Paul turns to Christ’s relation to the Church in verses 18-20. Paul’s major point in all these verses is that Christ is preeminent (or superior, before, central, and supreme) to all things. But in asserting Christ’s preeminence, Paul, in these verses, also grounds Christ, not as solely an ethereal or cosmic being, but as a man who lived with the fullness of God within him, who died on the cross, and who is directly connected to the Church as her head. Similarly to how Paul relates the interdependence of the human body’s features in passages like Romans 12:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 to the functioning of the Church, Paul here focuses on the fact that Christ is the head, the sole part that gives life and direction to the Church.

It is no accident that in verses 19-20, we see the words “in him...through him...to himself” strung together, reflecting Jesus’ own words in John 15:1-11, that he is the true vine and we are to abide in him and he in us. These words continue to stress the preeminent and essential nature of Christ to all of Creation and the Church.

Takeaway: It would take a lifetime to scratch the surface of the magnitude of who Jesus Christ is, but Paul gives us the window into seeing Christ in these verses. Most of us know we are called to abide in Christ, but if we do not also behold Christ, seeing Him in His glory, we can sometimes begin to mistake the forest for the trees. That is what was happening in Colossae, as they began to focus more upon themselves and their church, rather than their head, Jesus. Paul begins his address to them by crystallizing who exactly is the One who holds all power and authority but who also paid all atonement for them, so that by beholding Christ in the right way, His light would reveal where they were going astray. For us, this is the same. Behold the greatness of Christ, and abide in His unfailing love. Repent of the darkness His light shines upon, and rest in His promises.