Who's the Boss?
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Today we are looking at Colossians 1:15-20.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the Colossian believers were facing false teaching, the roots of what was to later be called Gnosticism.
These false teachers would have claimed to be Christians, but were teaching the Colossians that Jesus was not supreme. Rather, the believers needed to learn about and worship the aeons, or angels who were actually in charge of the world.
Again, when Paul wrote this letter, he did not start out with pointing to the wrong things being taught. He will touch on those later.
First, he started with the foundation of truth. The true gospel which the Colossians had heard and believed. The true gospel that was at work in them, bearing fruit and making them grow. They would hear these truths, and it would remind them of the truth which they heard, and felt in themselves.
Let’s read the truth of which Paul reminded them.
Pay particular attention to how Paul keeps pointing them to Christ.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—
the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel
that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
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.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
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.
Colossians 1.1 Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus
Colossians 1.2 The Colossians were in Christ
Colossians 1.3 He is our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they have put their faith
Colossians 1.7 Epaphras was a minister of Christ
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
It is Christ’s kingdom into which God has placed us when he rescued us from the dominion of darkness.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The Image of the Invisible God
The Image of the Invisible God
A couple different words. One is merely to resemble.
This one includes resemblance, but includes the concept that is proceeds from, or is drawn from the original.
You resemble… some famous person
But this one is image, like the son is the image of his father, the daughter is the image of her mother. You can see the resemblance of that from which they came. There is a definite material and immaterial relationship there. They are ‘cut from the same cloth.’
In the same way, Jesus is closely related to the Father. They are of the same essence. They are both God. And Jesus not only resembles God, but is his image, relationally tied to the Father and portraying the invisible God to us.
As Jesus said to Philip, John 14.9
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
The firstborn over all creation
The firstborn over all creation
Firstborn head to do with who would be the head of the family. It was a title and a role.
Look at Genesis 48:12-21
Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him.
But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”
When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”
He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.
Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,
title
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Creator of all things
Creator of all things
as we see in this statement, he is the creator of all things. Therefore, he was not a part of creation. (Jehovah’s Witnesses specifically add the word ‘other’ to this passage six times, trying to say that he created all other things. That word is not in the Greek. Greek actually has a couple of words for ‘other’, and neither appears in this book.
thrones, powers, rulers, authorities - four classes of angelic powers.
Created by him
Created for him
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Before all things
Before all things
Eternal. God alone existed before all things. Christ is before all things. Christ is God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Sustainer of all things
Sustainer of all things
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.
Laminin
lam•i•nin \ˈla-mə-nən\ noun
[lamina + 1-in] 1979: a glycoprotein component of connective tissue basement membrane that promotes cell adhesion
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.
Head of the Church
Head of the Church
Put into the body of Christ
For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Beginning and firstborn from among the dead
Beginning and firstborn from among the dead
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
One having Supremacy
One having Supremacy
To quote R. Kent Hughes:
Colossians and Philemon—The Supremacy of Christ Christ: Supreme in the Church (v. 18)
• First-place in our families.
• First-place in our marriages.
• First-place in our professions.
• First-place in our mission and ministry.
• First-place in matters of the intellect.
• First-place in time.
• First-place in love.
• First-place in conversation.
• First-place in pleasures.
• First in eating.
• First in play.
• First in athletics.
• First in what we watch.
• First-place in art.
• First-place in music.
• First-place in worship.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Fully God
Fully God
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.
Reconciler of all things
Reconciler of all things
The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 604. ἀποκαταλλάσσω apokatallássō
Apokatallássō is the stronger term for reconcile, differing from katallássō (2644), to reconcile, to set up a relationship of peace not existing before, in that apokatallássō is the restoration of a relationship of peace which has been disturbed