Lord of All

Introduction

This paragraph is one of the most dense passages about the doctrine of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Paul again is trying to prove the “Christ above all things” argument that the church of Colossae was struggling with in their beliefs. Every belief around them was diminishing the deity of Christ (Jesus is fully God and fully Man) and trying to see him as just a ghost that wasn’t really flesh at all (because matter is evil). This passage tells us something very simple but very profound: “Christ is Lord of all”.

Christ is the Savior (v. 13-14)

He delivered us

This means that Jesus rescued us from danger. We couldn’t save ourselves so Christ did it for us. God’s judgement was upon us without Christ but with Christ we have been delivered and robed in His righteousness.

He translated us

This word is used to describe the deportation of a population of people from one country to another.

Jesus didn’t release us from the bondage of sin just to let us roam around aimlessly in life. He brought us into the kingdom of light and made us victorious over Satan’s kingdom for a purpose. Think about the Israel experience of deliverance: God delivered them from the bondage of Egypt into the Promised Land of their inheritance. So He did for us when Jesus delivered us from the bondage of our sin to the promise of His Son and salvation in Him and into His eternal Kingdom.

He redeemed us

Redeemed means “to release a prisoner by the payment of a ransom.” Jesus didn’t pay that ransom to Satan for our freedom but He paid that ransom to God the Father as the cancellation of our sins by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Satan wants to accuse you and heap guilt and shame on your shoulders for breaking God’s law but the ransom has been PAID IN FULL ON THE CROSS!!!!!

He has forgiven us

Christ has cancelled all of our debts and all of our sins. Because of this Satan cannot condemn us with anything because Christ has paid it all!

Because He has forgiven us, we can forgive others. (Colossians 3:13 “

Forgiveness isn’t an excuse to sin but an encouragement to obedience. Nobody else redeems us, forgives us, and transfers us out of Satan’s Kingdom into God’s Kingdom completely by grace.

Christ is the Creator (15-17)

He existed before creation (15)

Jesus was the firstborn of all creation. Jesus wasn’t the first being to be created but was the Creator of all things so he is firstborn which means “of first importance, or of first rank.”

Paul calls Jesus the image of the invisible God which means “an EXACT representation” and Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus Christ is “the express image of his person.” Nature can show us the existence, power, and wisdom of God but only Jesus Christ can show us the very essence of God.

He created all things (16a)

Since Jesus created all things then He cannot Himself be a created being. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation BECAUSE He created all things. That is why the winds and the waves obeyed Him, diseases and death fled from Him because He is the Master over all things. John 1:3 says “All things were made by him”. All things are under His command.

All things Exist for Him (16b)

Everything was created in Him, for Him, and through Him. Jesus is why all things exist, how they came into being, and for Him everything was made.

“When it comes to creation, Jesus Christ is the primary cause (He planned it), the instrumental cause (He produced it), and the final cause (He did it for His own pleasure).” -Warren Wiersbe

Even though God’s creation is under bondage to sin (Romans 8:22) all things can be used for God’s glory and enjoyed by God’s people (1 Timothy 6:17)

He Holds all things together (17)

Because Christ is before all things He holds all things together which also affirms Jesus as fully God and fully Man.

Christ is the Head of the Church (18)

Every Christian is a member of the spiritual body of believers, and this passage says that Christ is the Head (or the Source, origin, leader, or ruler over). Paul calls Jesus the beginning which means that Jesus is the priority in time for the Church. Everything in this passage points to Christ being the first in all things even His church. Jesus supplies the church with life through His Spirit. He gives gifts to men so that they may use those gifts within the church to serve Him where they are needed and through His Word Jesus nourishes and cleanses His church. (Eph. 5:25-30)

The fact that their is one body worldwide does not eliminate the need for the local bodies of believers. We cannot say we are part of the universal church so we shouldn’t be part of a local body of believers is a lie. Your role that you play and the gifts that you have been given are important and needed in the local body that you serve in.

The tomb was a womb from which Christ came forth in victory, for death could not hold him. Christ was the firstborn “the most important or first in importance” in resurrection because without His resurrection, there would and could not be a resurrection for others. ( 1 Cor. 15:20)

These first three things Paul points out about Jesus’ preeminence is about His relationship with sinners but the last one is His relationship to the Father.

Christ is the Beloved (19-20)

In verse 13 Paul says that Jesus Christ is “His dear Son” and those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) and because of this God can call us His beloved (Colossians 3:12).

Christ was able to take on the fullness of God because He was God. The fullness of God’s attributes were pleased to dwell in Jesus because He wasn’t just some mere creation but He gave the fullness of His attributes to dwell in Jesus because He was fully God and fully man.

Many times we think that somehow we could please God or somehow we could reconcile ourselves to God but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. You cannot earn it and you cannot win over God with your own works. But because the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus because He was God He was able to do what no other man could do and that was to reconcile us to God.

Conclusion

Jesus Christ has taken care of all things. All things were created by Him and for Him. He existed before all things, and today He holds all things together. He has reconciled all things through the cross.

All that we need is Jesus Christ. We are filled full and complete in Christ (Col 2:10). To add anything to the person and work of Jesus Christ is to take away from His glory.

God is pleased when His Son, Jesus Christ, is honored and given preeminence. John 5:23-24 says “that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.” Jesus Christ is the Savior, the Creator, the Head of the church, and the Beloved of the Father. He is eternal God and He deserves to be first in our lives.