Colossians 1:15-19
Here is the Word .doc for the following lesson. Colossians Study 4
What does it mean to enjoy supremacy? In our country‘s system of jurisprudence it means that 9 people in black robes have the final say over what it constitutional and not. Their decisions are absolute and unappealable. In the realm of political rule, the closest examples are found in nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Here, kings rule in a system of government that we refer to as an absolute monarchy. An unelected man serves as both head of state and head of government, thus wielding political power over the sovereign state and its subject peoples. He is unbound by elections, a parliament or a constitution. He is all powerful. Then there was the trio of young girls from a Detroit housing project who went on to set the standard for all female R&B performers during their run of hits in the mid 60’s.
But here’s the thing. Those Supreme Court judges may be impeached and removed from office. That Saudi Arabian king can die from cancer, thus ending his reign. And for what happened to the Supremes I’ve got three words, “No Diana Ross”.
We call and consider people and things supreme that bear no resemblance to true supremacy. In just a few verses Paul paints a picture the Lord Jesus Christ that ought to sober the drunk and awake the sleeping. The height, width and breadth of his power and domain are without borders. Let’s look at His supremacy as it relates to three areas:
- God the Father
- Creation
- The Church
God the Father
“He is the image of the invisible God”
I’m sure each of us can recall statements from unbelievers that go something like this. “I can’t believe in something that I can’t see.” Or we’ve experienced times of desperation and waning faith where we wish we could behold with our eyes what we are struggling to hold onto in our hearts. To them and us this verse is an absolutely extraordinary statement. The invisible God has made Himself visible! Just consider that for a moment. Now while you are considering that, consider this. The eternal God who transcends not only time and space also transcends form. What kind of watch do you think God wears? “That’s stupid”, you say. That it is. Time is a divinely created human construct that was instituted by an eternal God. But we don’t honestly believe that God is bound by it. He condescends Himself to it so that we have some frame of reference in which to identify with His creatures. When we look out into space and ponder our Milky Way galaxy we say this is God’s realm. And it is. But we don’t limit His ownership to simply this galaxy or universe. It’s ALL His. And when we say ALL, that again is a human construct we use in an attempt to try and understand God’s vastness. For His domain has no domain.
Now what about form? Does form exist outside of God? That is to say, is the concept of form so innate and elemental that God abides by its structure? Certainly not, form is a derivative of God. What we understand of form is what God as its creator has given us to understand. I say all of that because I want you to think about this. The utter condescension and absolute humiliation of the God who created form, became visible. The invisible God as the visible Christ. This single statement of truth exposes nearly every false system of worship that has ever been birthed from Hell. Jesus the teacher, Jesus the philosopher, Jesus the good person are all title that the world is comfortable with. But Jesus the image and person of God? No! And how does this impact the Colossian believers? Paul writes
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ” (Colossians 2:8–9, NIV)
So if they were tempted to be drawn into this net of deceptiveness, they should be literally slapped in their collective faces and understand that all is found in Christ. He is fullness of God.
Christ’s relation to the created universe, both seen and unseen is no less revealing.
He is “the firstborn of all creation”
This seems like a rather odd way to describe the uncreated Son of God. But it is used several other places:
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ” (Romans 8:29, NAS)
“And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.” ” (Hebrews 1:6, NAS)
“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5a, NAS)
In fact this is the phrase that cults like the JW’s have used to deny Christ’s deity. They argue that this word speaks of a created being. And if they were right, then they would be right, but they aren’t , so they aren’t and He most certainly isn’t. Got it? Let’s look at the word prōtotokos from which we get our translation “first born” and the context in which it appears. We all know that the word first (pro in Greek) can signify both chronology as well as priority. The use of this term to describe King David in Ps 89:27 “I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,”. In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).
Let’s read this verse through again. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ” This first statement is just the beginning of what is to follow in the next several verses. What we get is a stunning sweep of the enormity of God the Son’s power, authority and superiority. The practical consequences of Christ’s reign in every molecule of our life for every nanosecond of our existence are truly humbling. It sets the stage for how the Colossians are going to receive and respond to what Paul will write to them in the coming chapters. Various kinds of ideologies are competing for their attention. Wishing to ensnare and enslave them to all manners of philosophies. But when viewed in light of the extraordinary Jesus presented to us by Paul, it would be a gross overstatement to even call them shams. He says that it is Christ that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” reside.
“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. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ” Paul tells us that He has right to it because He created it! We might not always think about that when we consider the creation account of Genesis that it is God the Son who is the creative force in the universe’s origin. These six verses are not interested in vagaries. Paul is stressing totalities at every turn. Jesus does not bear a resemblance to God. That could be said of us, though marred. He is the expressed image of that which is not seen. He is not one of many vying for control over creation He is the protokos or first in order among all.
Everything that has ever existed does so because the Lord Jesus Christ created them. Absolutely nothing exists outside of His creative domain. That goes for things in Heaven and Earth. Seen and unseen. Paul lists off a few examples, “thrones or powers or rulers or authorities”. The categories that Paul chooses have great significance for readers, then and now. They refer to both holy and fallen angels, to demons and man. It is these same “rulers and authorities” that he refers to in chapter 2.
“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, 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. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:13–15, NIV)
And again in Ephesians 6
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ” (Ephesians 6:10–12, NIV)
So you should begin to feel the weight of the consequences of this passage, if you are aware of where we are going. Firstly, there is absolutely nothing or no one that Christ did not create. Every king (good and bad), every angelic being (faithful and fallen). They all are His creatures. Secondly, and admittedly the more difficult one to grasp, they were formed and exist even now for Him. The Apostle Paul and Joseph Stalin served the purposes and pleasure of Christ. Michael and Satan equally fulfill His plans for His own Glory. The peace and the war. The birth and the death. They all praise Him. The knowledge of this will be very meaningful to the Colossae who are undergoing various attacks from Satan.
- “fine-sounding arguments.” 2:4
- “hollow and deceptive philosophy” 2:8
- “judge you by what you eat or drink” 2:16
- “delights in false humility and the worship of angels” 2:18
- “self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body” 2:23
Let me again read 2:8-9 but with the addition of vs 10. And catch the added impact.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
and you have been given fullness in Christ,
who is the HEAD OVER EVERY POWER AND AUTHORITY. ” (Colossians 2:8–10, NIV)
Satan and the fallen angels are Christ’s subjects. He is their King. There is no heavenly power struggle. The Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ is not locked in a cosmic arm wrestling match with the devil. Each time a young child dies or a tsunami strikes the coast of Asia does not signify a loss of God’s grip. The Devil and sin serve the purposes of God’s Glory. You might ask how God governs the sinful without sinning Himself. This is what theologians call the “mystery of iniquity”. It is a difficult and sometimes painful subject to consider. And often we are prone to shy away from that which is hard or doesn’t offer an easy answer, or an answer at all for that matter. Maybe, just maybe the honest, humbled and hurting heart finds its peace in knowing that evil serves the ultimate best interest of God Himself. It is God in His goodness and in His sovereignty who has ordained the final conquest over evil and its riddance from His universe. In this redemption we find our rest and our joy — and until that time, we live in a fallen world.
The Church
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in visible form who created and reigns over all things. So it would stand to reason that we already know and understand that reign extends to the Church. And so it does, but that relationship is so particular that it is singled out for our understanding. For it is this institution that we are told Christ gave His life for – Eph 5:25. The Church is not just any organization. Those are such cold sounding words, institution and organization. Listen to Paul’s fuller description
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ” (Ephesians 5:25–27, NIV)
“There is a precious and unfathomable covenant love between Christ and His Bride that moved Him to die for her.” – John Piper
When I really begin to take in Christ’s eternal abiding love for His bride, it causes me to consider what we have done to ourselves as the Church, and shutter. If you’ll forgive the contemporary analogy it reminds me of that youtube video that shows a wedding party prancing down the aisle to some choreographed dance routine. Let’s read Paul’s announcement.
“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.” (Colossians 1:18, NIV)
Paul give us four truth about Christ’s relation to the Church in this verse.
- He is the Head
There are several metaphors used in scripture to describe the church. A family, a kingdom, a vineyard, a flock, a building, a bride. But the one that I believe is most significant in that it has no OT equivalent is that of “a body”.“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. ” (1 Corinthians 12:12–20, ESV)
Far from riding “along the sides of the lofty hills which rise above Tarry Town” (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), the Colossian Church has a head. And that head is Christ. They and we work and rest in the knowledge that He who loved the Church to the point of death also guides and directs her.
- He is the beginning
The archē or source of the Church. As the head of the body He holds the highest rank in the Church. We would do well to remember that. - He is the firstborn from the dead
Again we run into prototokos. This time Christ’s superiority is in regards to His resurrection, of all those who have been raised from the dead, or ever will be, Christ is the highest in rank - Supreme
The last portion of the verse makes plain that it is because of His death and resurrection that He is the supreme head of the Church.
Jesus Christ, being the expressed image of God, reigns supreme over the visible world, the invisible world and the Church. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ” (Colossians 1:19, NIV) Paul in giving his summation tells the Colossians that fulness is not found in the false teachings and philosophies of the world. The fulness of God is found in Christ. And how shall we respond? The Puritan John Owen wrote it this way,
The revelation made of Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness than the whole creation, and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without this knowledge, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion.
This therefore deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them. For if our future blessedness shall consist in living where He is, and beholding of His glory, what better preparation can there be for it than a constant previous contemplation of that glory as revealed in the gospel, that by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into the same glory? (John Owen, The Glory of Christ [reprint, Chicago: Moody, 1949], pp. 25–26)