Studies in Colossians

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Studiesin

Colossians

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The Structure of the Book1v1-2 Introduction1v3-14 Paul’s Prayer1v15-23 The Supremacy of Christ1v24-2v5 Paul’s Labour for the Church2v6-7 The Danger of Seductive Teaching2v8-15 Know Your Enemy – Part 12v16-19 Know Your Enemy – Part 22v20-23 New Teacher’s Bondage3v1-17 Sanctification3v18-4v1 Christian Households4v2-6 Further Instructions4v7-18 Personal Greetings

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The Supremacy of Christ

Chapter 1v15-23

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IntroductionThese verses form one of the most beautiful pieces of praise to Christ in the New Testament. They celebrate Christ’s sovereignty over all of creation and his supremacy over all powers especially over all hostile, angelic powers. Paul appeals not only to the intellect of his readers but to their hearts through the language of worship.

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IntroductionThose living in the Lycos valley lived in fear both of both astral powers and terrestrial spirits. In the way that some today live in fear of the evil eye or of a jinn.

Paul is determined to show his readers how a true understanding of Christ can dispel those fears. A grasp of truth is the best protection against error.

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In order to understand the breathtaking passage before us there are three clues which we must piece together.

1. The connection between the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. No other spiritual power is needed to bring to mankind God's full and final salvation. Why? Because Christ is supreme and as such has all the qualifications required to be a sufficient Saviour. If Christ sustains the whole universe from its remote beginnings to its final goal, is it reasonable to doubt his power to sustain the individual believer?

Introduction

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2. The connection between Christ as Creator and Redeemer. Christ is both the source of the universe and of the church. As such he is the author of both our physical joys and spiritual joys. Paul is anxious to demonstrate the danger of making a false distinction between the sacred and secular. Compared with the spiritual gifts,God's good gifts can become undervalued cf 2.21.

The religious life is then narrowed down to prayer, fasting and mystical exercises and our responsibilities to family life, society and daily labour are dismissed. This results inthe neglect of our God-given role as a citizen of this world.

Introduction

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3. We need to recognise that Christ existed before the world was created. Long after creation he stepped into human history and is now alive eternally in glory. All of God's activity has been done in and through Christ. This counters the claim, which was being made by some teachers at Colossae, that God had not finished his work of salvation when he gave us Christ. And therefore, God had still more to give, apart from Christ. The false teachers seem to have claimed that God’s work of salvation was incomplete.

Introduction

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1. In creation Christ is supreme.

This truth settles, once and for all, the status of those numerous heavenly powers that both fascinated and frightened the people of Paul's day [and ours]. Nothing these powers do can influence Christ or enrich him cf. the animistic syncretism in South America where some have added tribal superstitions to Christian teaching. Similarly, to make prayers to ‘the saints’ is to devalue the work of Christ!

For young Christians in particular it is importantto know that spiritual ‘powers’ have neither treasures to give nor terrors to threaten those whose lives are hid in Christ.


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2. In creation Christ is sufficient.

Note the repetition of the phrase ‘all things’ in v15-17. Christ is the sufficient explanation to every aspect of creation. Now if he is sufficient to sustain the whole creation how easy it was for him to sustain the little church at Colossae! This helps us to understand the great titles Paul ascribes to Jesus:

i. ‘The image of the invisible God’ v15. A reference to the incarnation in which the Creator made himself known through the man Christ Jesus. This is God made flesh 1Jn.1.1. His creative word was seen in action. cf Mk.3v5 and Mk. 5v41. In 3.10 we learn how he renewed the lost and marred image in man.


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2. In creation Christ is sufficient.

In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified and said to be with God at the creation of the world [Prov.8v27, 30]. In Jewish wisdom literature just before the NT. era, divine wisdom is described as ‘the image of God’ [Wisdom of Solomon 7v26].

Because it was difficult for some Jewish Christians to reconcile the deity of Christ with a ‘one God’ theology, Paul may have chosen to use the language of ‘wisdom’ to help clarify the nature and work of Christ in his existence before his incarnation.


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ii. ‘The firstborn of all creation’. v15.

This does not imply that Jesus was the first of the created beings. The context forbids this - ‘he was before all things and through him all things were made’. The term first-born was used to describe a father's heir. Jesus, as God's Son, is the heir of all things [Heb.1v2.]

The title also belongs to Christ as a descendant of David, who reigns as king. The Psalmist reports what God said of David in Ps 89v27…The emphasis falls on Christ’s ruling sovereignty and on the closeness of his relationship to the Father.


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C. S. Lewis explains the eternality of the Son in terms of placing two books on a table together representing Father and Son, one on top of the other. The lower book supports the higher, but they were both placed there at the same time.


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The created order includes the angelic world; invisible authorities. These are referred to as early as Judges 5.20. But see also Dan.10. Eph1.20.

The created order exists for Christ. One day as heir he will enter visibly into his full inheritance before a watching world. On that glorious day the church will share in his inheritance cf 3v3.


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3. Christ and other Spiritual beings.

In v16ff Paul speaks of Jesus relationship to ‘thrones, powers, rulers and authorities’: Terms used in Jewish literature to speak of angelic powers, both good and evil.

Paul consistently speaks of ‘rulers’ and ‘authorities’ in a negative way in this letter cf 2v10,15. By expanding on the invisible realm Paul impresses upon the Colossians that Christ is by no means on the same level as the angels. He is Creator of this realm and as such he is incomparably greater.


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3. Christ and the church.In v18ff Christ is now described as ‘head of the church’. This is God's new creation. Cf. Eph 1.22 "FOR the church". The establishment of the church is the first step to the redemption of the whole of the created order.

By describing Jesus as ‘the beginning and the first-born from the dead’ reference is made to the resurrection! Not simply that he was the first to rise from the dead but that he is the Author of resurrection life! He gives new life to God's people [Rom8.29] and makes spiritually dead men, alive. This helps us understand the next description...


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Jesus is the ‘head of the body’. As such the church is totally dependent on Christ for the continuance of its life. If we cut ourselves off from the source of our essential nourishment and growth we cannot hope to survive. cf 2.19. This happens when Christ is not given the pre-eminent place in our lives.

The new teachers at Colossae claimed too much authority for themselves. They wanted to head up the work as the unchallenged wisdom and authority of the church. Authoritarian leadership of this kind is always dangerous, and can cause church members to lose hold of their heavenly leader.


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4. God with us in ChristIt was in Christ that the ‘fullness’ of God was pleased to dwell v19. There was nothing belonging to God the Father that was not in Christ; the full compliment of divine attributes were found in him. The new teachers taught that God had still had more of himself to give. To be indwelt by Christ was not enough to access the fullness that could be theirs. And they could deliver this ‘extra’ secret thing! But Paul is fully persuaded that the teacher does not possess anything beyond Christ to give to his people.


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5. God for us in ChristWe might ask where is this staggering picture of the supremacy of Christ leading? It leads to the cross cf v20 which teaches that nothing in the universe is outside the range of God's reconciling work in Christ. The need of reconciliation between God and his creation implies that disharmony exists.

A gigantic rupture took place at the fall dislocating not only the relationship between God and man but throwing into disarray the whole created order. Futility and decay are the present hallmarks of creation, Rom.8v18ff and the estrangement of man not only from God but from his fellows v21.


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How are we to understand God’s Reconciliation?

i. Reconciliation is a work of God. It is God's initiative.ii. Reconciliation does not rest on human achievement.iii Reconciliation was achieved through Christ’s sacrificial death. iv. Reconciliation through Christ is universal in its scope. Upheaval and rebellion is quelled. But the ‘all things’ does not imply a universalism - the idea that every rebel being, man and angel, is brought into friendship with God. Reconciliation is to be understood in terms of pacification. It envisages a situation where there will be no more opportunity to promote upheaval and chaos.


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Having dealt in general terms with the work of Jesus as the Creator and Redeemer, Paul now illustrates the significance of that work in his reader’s experience. Why? Because the 'new teaching‘ had diminished the importance of that work implying that, “conversion and reconciliation is as nothing compared with what they had to offer”. This helps us understand why Paul lays such an extraordinary emphasis on the unique value of what Christ had already done. Paul employs the ‘before and after’ pictures, of which he is particularly fond.

This section can be divided in the following mannerv21. What you once werev22. Where you now standv23. How you must go on.

The Believer’s Experience

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1. What you once were.

Notice, they had been not merely neutral but antagonistic to the truth of God, ‘enemies in your minds’ v21. It is unhelpful to think that human apathy explains man’s refusal to accept the gospel. Deep down in the human heart there is an enmity which resists the claims of God. Notice too, that hostile thinking about God produces evil behaviour. This should not surprise us and it serves to expose the desperate plight of man.

It is impossible to reject God and then live a righteous life.


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2. Where you now stand.In v22 we have a description of the Christian's justification.Reconciliation is a once and for all thing which God has achieved.The place where this work took place was on the cross. It was established there before anything could take place in the believer’s heart. It was an act outside of us that makes us a holy people.

God wants us to be ‘holy and without blemish’. Language that is drawn from the cultic practice of sacrifice in Judaism. Animal offerings - types of Christ – that were brought to God had to be without blemish.

Christ-likeness is God’s goal for our lives.


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2. Where you now stand.

The word 'present' has a legal meaning that of 'bring before a court'. Therefore when brought before the divine judge, they are shown to be reconciled, without reproach, stain or fault.

When this great truth first dawned on the heart of John Wesley the famous C18th English Evangelist it inspired him to write the hymn containing the line: "No condemnation now I dread!"


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3. How you must go on.Verse 23 epitomises the appeal of the whole letter. In the light of what God has done they are to persevere in their faith. They are to be ‘stable’, literally, ‘established or well-founded in the truth’.

To depart from the core of the gospel is to step away from the foundations on which Christ has built his church. To do so is to compare oneself to an unstable building.

And so they are called upon to be steadfast and loyal to the truths by which they have been saved.


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3. How you must go on.

In addition, they are not to ‘move’. This is a unique NT. word which means not to be dissuaded from the ‘hope of the gospel’. The chief blessing of the gospel is the ‘hope’ it contains for the future.

The thrust of the message of the new teachers seems to have been that the fullness of spiritual inheritance is experienced in this life only.

But to think in this way is to ‘move from the hope'.


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To sum up. To continue in the faith is to be content with the gospel which saved and delivered us from spiritual death and estrangement. It involves placing our confidence for our acceptance by God in what Christ has done for us. It is to hold on to the apostolic doctrine even when others claim to have improved upon it.

Whenever we move from the hope of the gospel by seeking assurance of salvation in Christ crucified plus something else, a fearful bondage always results. One hymn-writer puts it like this:

My hope is built on nothing less,Than Jesus' blood and righteousness,I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name, On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand

Conclusion

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Studies in Colossians