The last post
emphasized the truth that Jesus is the Creator, and this post emphasizes the
truth that He is also preeminent in the creation as the One through whom God
accomplished reconciliation for the sinner.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead; that in all
things he might have the preeminence.
This is one
of several passages (Romans 12, 1Corinthians 12, Ephesians 3-5) in which Paul
compares the church, those who trust Christ as Savior and Lord, to a body with
Christ as the head. As stated
previously, He is the cornerstone upon which the church was built. He was the first man to be resurrected from
death and the grave in a glorified body of flesh; this established Him as the
firstborn among His brethren, the body of believers. This is the crucial truth upon which the hope
of the Christian rests. Paul stated it
so well in his letter to the Corinthians..
1Corinthians 15:14, 19-23 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain….If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that
slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But
every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Preeminence is another word that references first
in rank or influence. Christ has been
established as preeminent in everything associated with His creation.
Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fulness dwell;
I like the way
the CJB expresses this verse: “For it pleased God to have his full being
live in his Son….”
In other
words, Jesus was completely man and completely God. He chose to lay aside some of His attributes
during His 33 years on earth, but He never quit being God. An excerpt from my journal on Philippians
applies here:
Philippians
2:5-7 Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
The Greek for
reputation emphasizes the truth that
He emptied Himself; He lived in the
flesh as a man; He lived in dependence upon the Spirit—just as we are supposed
to. He didn’t cease being God; He just chose to live with the limitations of a man, albeit a sinless man
indwelt by the Spirit—just as Adam was created and intended to live.
Although Christ chose to empty Himself, He never quit being
God. He humbled Himself in obedience, but He always remained the Son of
God, inseparable part of the triune God. I don’t know how to say it any
more clearly………and I don’t really know how to understand it. My little granddaughter
made the statement one day shortly before she was four, “Jesus is God, and God
is God; and that is hard to understand.” Such an amazing truth from a
child! [end excerpt]
Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in
earth, or things in heaven.
“Made peace”
is a reference to establishing harmony.
Jesus made possible a restoration in harmony in the relationship between
God and man; a harmony that had been destroyed when man chose to sin. This peace came at a high price—Jesus’ death
on the cross. I thought it was
interesting that the Greek for both blood
and cross referenced the atoning
blood of Christ and that the Greek for cross
referenced self-denial. It was Christ’s
denial of self in obedience to the cross that makes it possible for us to be
“at one” with God again, in harmony.
Through the
shed blood of Christ, God was essentially reconciling creation to
Himself—things in heaven and on earth.
Again, reconciling is a
reference to making peace/harmony. Jesus
was very clear in teaching that He and the Father were one.
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
John 14:8-10 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith
unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth
the works.
(to be continued…)
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