The Preeminence of Christ - Week Five

Welcome to week five of my Preeminence of Christ study. This week, we focus on Colossians 1:19 and what it means that in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for allowing me to write this, and for helping me along when I had no idea what to write. Thank You for leading me from Scripture to Scripture and for showing me the majesty of Your Preeminence. To You alone I give glory for these studies. Next week is our last week!

If you've missed the previous studies, here they are:

The Preeminence of Christ - Week One

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Two

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Three

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Four

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST – Week Five – Colossians 1:19 

By: Becka Goings 

Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

~*~*~

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” ~~Colossians 1:19 

I love how easily the Apostle Paul was able to pack rich, meaty doctrine within a few simple words. Colossians 1:19 might seem like a small fragment we read quickly in order to get to the end of our passage, but it’s little phrases such as this that teach us Christ was truly a man – and also truly God. He did not possess a likeness to God, He was not merely a shadow of Him, nor was He some kind of apparition. He was a flesh and blood man who possessed the fullness of God within Him. Christ had two natures in one body, humanity and divinity. In theology circles, this reality is called the hypostatic union. Christ was not merely God in a human shell, nor was He a man upon whom God rested. He was an actual man, like any other man, and yet, He did not cease being God. 

Paul states the same doctrine in a slightly different way a little further along in the book of Colossians, in verse 2:9: 

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” 

In our first passage, he says “all the fullness”, in the second, he says “the whole fullness”. Let’s take a moment to dig in and study this. It should never cease to astound us. How can the infinite fullness of God “fit”, for lack of a better word, in a man? And how amazing is it that God stooped so low to become a man? The eternal God, so high above every other name in creation, who has made countless galaxies with billions of stars, now, fully and forever, fills the body of a man. This massive truth had to be communicated to the Colossians on Paul’s authority as an Apostle, considering the heresies that had crept into their church. If it overwhelms us now, two thousand years removed, imagine what it must have been like for the early church, many of whom might have seen Christ themselves or heard Him preach. They had, perhaps with their own eyes, beheld the Living God!

This very doctrine, that Christ is God, is the reason why Christianity spread like wildfire throughout the region. His resurrection from the dead ultimately proved who He was, and nothing could stop the spread of this tremendous news. God Himself had come down to earth for us! Imagine living your life, wondering if God hears you, sees you, or even cares about you. And then… you look and there’s Christ! You hear His words, you see His power, and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt God hears you, sees you, and cares for you more than anyone else ever could. This is glorious; this is beautiful. This is the most magnificent event to ever happen in human history!

Paul was deliberately explicit in his description of Christ’s deity, because this knowledge is foundational to having eternal life. Even Christ Himself said in John 8:24:

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 

And also John 17:3:

“This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” 

If the Colossians didn’t understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, they could not have eternal life, as eternal life is knowing the one true God (John 8:24, 1 John 5:11, 1 John 5:20), and according to Jesus, that includes knowing “Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. You might say you have Jesus and that you’re even a Christian, but if you don’t believe Jesus is Almighty God, you have a different Jesus, one who is powerless and cannot save you from your sins.

He is not a “spiritual being”, He is not an angel, He is not created, and He’s not merely a good human teacher. No, in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Let’s take some time to explore this fullness, and try to comprehend what this looks like in the life of Christ.

I’d like to read our week’s verse in another translation if I may. For the purpose of this study, we have been quoting Colossians 1:15-20 in the English Standard Version, or ESV. But I want to take a look at verse 19 in the NASB, the New American Standard Bible. The NASB is arguably the most accurate translation in English that we have to the original Greek and Hebrew texts. This is how the NASB translates Colossians 1:19:

“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” 

I like this wording, because it is a little more personal than the ESV which reads: 

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” 

From a writer’s perspective, the ESV wording sounds as if it was the “fullness” that was pleased, rather than God the Father. But the NASB makes it clear it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Christ. However, we kind of need both wordings here, because even in the NASB, you might be left thinking “fullness of what?” We know from the ESV, it is the fullness of God. 

But what does this mean? What does it mean to have the fullness of God dwelling in Him? Certainly it means Christ had all of God’s attributes, although veiled in flesh. He did not cease to be God when He became a man, rather, He set aside the radiance of His glory as God to be totally dependent upon the Father, taking on the form of a servant, as Paul says in Philippians 2:7. However, this does not mean Christ set aside the fullness of God. Hear what Puritan John Gill has to say in his commentary of Philippians 2:7:

“Nevertheless emptied himself"; not of that fulness of grace which was laid up in him from everlasting, for with this he appeared when he was made flesh, and dwelt among men; nor of the perfections of his divine nature, which were not in the least diminished by his assumption of human nature, for all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily; though he took that which he had not before, he lost nothing of what he had; the glory of his divine nature was covered, and out of sight; and though some rays and beams of it broke out through his works and miracles, yet his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, was beheld only by a few; the minds of the far greater part were blinded, and their hearts hardened, and they saw no form nor comeliness in him to desire him; the form of God in which he was, was hid from them.” 

We know from the Apostle John that Christ was “full of grace and truth”. 

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” ~~John 1:14

John has also told us:

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” ~~John 1:16

John’s words in verse 16 are curious, “grace upon grace”. But they are a lovely picture of what the Lord gives to His children. This phrase implies that John might have gone on and on about it; grace upon grace upon grace upon grace… One grace right after another. I love this, because Paul tells us in Romans 2:5 that those with hard and impenitent hearts are storing up wrath for themselves, and yet, John says from Christ’s fullness, we all receive grace upon grace. We’re literally the opposite of the children of wrath who store up wrath – we are the children of grace, storing up grace!

This also gives the beautiful picture that Christ is a fountain, ever-full of grace, pouring it out in abundant measure to those who belong to Him. Using the metaphor of the fountain, we are immediately reminded of our Lord telling us in John 7:38 about rivers of Living Water flowing from the hearts of those who believe in Him as the Scriptures have said. And this, I believe, is what it means that in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell: Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit.

You might think we talk about the indwelling Spirit all the time. Why is this so wonderful?

This particular truth is so stunning because until Christ Himself, no other man or woman in the history of the world ever had the Holy Spirit filling them. In the Old Testament, God had many servants whom His Spirit would come upon, but did not fill. It’s obvious that with Christ being God, He would be the One in whom the Spirit of God would literally dwell. Now, we are not to look upon Christ as being indwelt with the Spirit in the same way as a believer to whom the Spirit is sent, no, the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26) and is in eternal fellowship with Christ in the Godhead of the Trinity. Therefore Christ’s relationship with the Holy Spirit is due to their shared, united deity.

Luke 4:1 says:

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness” 

This is immediately following Christ’s baptism, and we’ll touch on that in a moment. But I wanted to show you the beauty within this verse that tells us how intimately Christ and the Spirit worked together. Notice what it says here. Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” and also “led by the Spirit”. This wasn’t merely as He was being led into the wilderness, but this was a reality in the life of Christ. He was full of the Spirit and He was led by the Spirit every single day.

Now, remember our NASB translation of Colossians 1:19? Let’s read it again:

“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” 

The reason why we are looking at the NASB version is because of what the Father says at Christ’s baptism. Let’s take a look. The passage is Matthew 3:16-17.

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

Here we have Paul’s words in Colossians contrasted with the Father’s words in Matthew. Both testify that God was pleased in Christ, and that in Him abided the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Matthew passage is God’s own testimony of Christ’s true identity. We know that if we have the testimony of the Most High God, there is none who can condemn, for it is God who justifies (Romans 8:33). Christ did not need to be justified in the same way we are justified before the Father, however, the Father’s testimony gave a weighty glory to Christ’s testimony of Himself. Hear what Christ had to say about this in John 8:17-18:

“In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 

These words were spoken to the Pharisees, who tried so hard to condemn Christ and catch Him doing anything that would break the Mosaic Law. But Christ turns the tables on them and reminds them of their own Law, (of which He wrote, I’d like to add), that the testimony of two people is true. Christ has His own testimony and He also has the testimony of God the Father. That is jaw-dropping when you come to think about it. Yahweh Himself testified that He was well pleased in His beloved Son. But these unfortunate Pharisees rejected the testimony of the Father, and therefore, their sentence was pronounced from the mouth of Christ in John 8:21:

“So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 

This is sobering. I cannot think of any other terror I fear more than hearing these words spoken to me by the Lord of Heaven and earth. Even the Apostle John made mention of the testimony of the Father in 1 John 5:9:

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.” 

The point has been made from Scripture. God the Father has testified of the truth of Christ, and if anyone rejects that Christ is the Son of God and therefore God Himself in the flesh, he calls the Father a liar and does not have eternal life (1 John 2:22-23, 1 John 5:10).

What fascinates me about the account in Luke after the baptism of Christ, is another phrase about the Spirit in Him found a few verses down in Luke 4:14:

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” 

Not only was Christ filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit, He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Here was the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, being fully equipped by the Father. This filling, leading, and power of the Spirit is all the fullness of God.

Shortly after his passage on the deity of Christ in Colossians, the Apostle Paul goes on to say something astounding in Colossians 1:26-27:

“that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

Let’s stop here and consider these three marvelous words: Christ in you. This was the mystery of God – hidden for ages but revealed now to us. God’s ultimate plan for Messiah was to multiply Messiah’s fullness to fill His church, by fully and wonderfully indwelling each of His children! The Jews had been waiting for God’s promised Messiah ever since God first prophesied the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:15. But they were looking for an earthly king to restore and reign over a powerful, prosperous Israel.

God’s plan, however, was much grander than they could ever imagine. He would make a peculiar people for Messiah, a people solely set apart for Him, who would have Messiah Himself dwelling within them through the power of His Holy Spirit. Have you ever thought long on this, Christian? The God of Glory has made His dwelling place not only in the heavens, but also in the hearts of men and women!

Consider Isaiah 57:15:

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite. 

This is the meaning of verses such as 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:19 – our bodies are quite literally the temple of God. This is not a metaphor, but reality. This mystery that Paul speaks of is what theologians call union with Christ. By the indwelling of the Spirit of God, all believers have direct and personal access to the Lord Jesus Christ without limits. The Spirit is in Him, and He places the Spirit in us so that we can be one just as He and the Father are one. In Christ’s High Priestly Prayer of John 17, our Lord prays these words in verses 22-23:

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” 

What a magnificent prayer from our Savior. What is this “glory” He has given us?

The Holy Spirit. 

It is the Spirit who allows the Body of Christ to be united to each other in one body, and He also unites us to Christ in an eternal bond that cannot be broken. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), nothing can pluck us from Christ’s or the Father’s hand (John 10:27-29), and we are sealed by the Spirit Himself from the moment we first believed (Ephesians 1:13).

It is the Spirit of Christ who is our hope of glory as the promise of our future inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). It is also the Spirit who identifies the sons of God, as according to Romans 8:14, all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Just as Christ was filled and led, so too are His children.

This union we have with Christ by His Spirit is further fleshed out in Galatians 2:20:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” 

Paul lays it out – he was crucified with Christ; his old life died on the cross. Yet, here’s the mystery: he still lives. But it’s not him, it’s Christ! In other words, our old lives have died, and our lives are now lived by Christ Himself through us. As the King James Version puts it: “I live, yet not I.”

Union with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit makes the Christian life possible. Anyone who tries to live a holy and Christlike life apart from Christ’s Spirit will miserably fail. Why? Because holiness and Christlikeness comes from a heart reborn by the Spirit of God. All other attempts at replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) are counterfeit. Every peace apart from the peace of God is a false peace. Every strength apart from God’s strength is merely weakness. There is no supply for the unbeliever when they cannot go on, no well of grace to overflow from Christ. Without nourishment from God, they remain empty and desperate, trying to fill that void with a sea of vanity – sadly, to their own demise.

But here is the stunning glory of this mystery in union with Christ. If you’re taking notes, jot this down. Highlight this next Scripture and circle it in your Bibles. Write Colossians 1:19 as a sister verse in the margin and memorize this if you can. Let’s all take a deep breath, and read Ephesians 3:14-19:

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” 

Christian! Do you know what this means? Do you understand the depth of the glorious majesty we have been given in the gift of God’s Holy Spirit? Can you grasp the weight of what He’s bestowed upon us, we who were once His enemies? How am I not laid out on the floor day in and day out by this realization, that we can likewise be filled with all the fullness of God? This is a miracle unto itself!

What we have to remember, however, is that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and therefore has a measure of the Spirit by deity that we do not possess. We cannot ourselves perform miracles, but the Spirit can do so through us should He will it. Let us always remember that miracles by the Spirit is not the point, nor the glory, of possessing the Spirit of Christ.

The glory of the indwelling Spirit is conformity to and union with Christ. 

One of the greatest miracles the Holy Spirit has ever wrought is literally recreating a sinner into a saint. Those who are reborn by God are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you are Christ’s, your new heart is a miracle of God. Being transformed into the image of Christ is a miracle of God. If you’re a soul winner, you are performing miracles. If you have brought a brother or sister to Christ, God has done a miracle through you. Never believe it is a small thing to lead a sinner to Christ. It cost the Father the life of His only begotten Son, and it is a tangible miracle performed by the Holy Spirit in your life.

Last week, we took a look at Ephesians 1:22-23, but then, we studied verse 22. Today, I want to take a closer look at verse 23. Let’s read:

“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” 

We know from last week’s study that Christ is the head of the body, which is His church. But what I love about this particular verse is that the Apostle Paul says His body is “the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” We know by God’s omnipresence that He is everywhere. There is not a place in this entire universe we can go that He is not there. God fills all places at all times. This is the meaning of the phrase “fills all in all”.

Notice, however, the special distinction given to the church, His body. She is the “fullness of Him”. God On High fills all in all, and yet, His church is the fullness of Him.

Brethren, we as believers, are the fullness of Christ. His Spirit indwells hundreds of thousands of believers all over the world. What mind-blowing glory is this? His fullness is worldwide! Imagine this – we know from Psalm 24:1 and Isaiah 6:3 that the whole earth is full of His glory, and yet… after the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, He has now filled the earth with a much greater glory – His own Spirit filling His body, the beautiful and glorious church!

Dear ones, as if these truths weren’t enough, let me give you one final truth to ponder for the rest of the week, perhaps for the rest of your lives. According to Ephesians 1:13-14, we’ve been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and He is the guarantee of our inheritance. The Spirit isn’t our inheritance, He is only the guarantee of it. How much more, then, is our full inheritance in Christ? To have Him fill us perfectly and completely, to be made impeccably in His image, to resemble Him with a body like His, and to shine forever like stars in the city of our God?

Oh, my family in Christ, I daresay the way to be filled with all the fullness of God is to long and often ponder these heavenly realities, and to keep our minds and hearts set upon the unending joy that is ours through union with Christ. We must focus our gaze to Heaven and march on to obtain that glorious crown.

There is only one thing left to say.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” 

~~Colossians 3:1-4

Amen.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. The two natures of Christ, both human and divine, is known by theologians as the _____________ union.



2. True or False? If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is God, you will die in your sins.



3. What is the meaning of the “fullness of God”?



4. Union with Christ by the power of the _______ ________ makes the Christian life possible.



5. The glory of the indwelling Spirit is ______________________________

_________________________________________________________________.

Questions for Personal Reflection 

Have you ever thought or believed that Christ fully laid aside His divinity to become a man, rather than His humanity being filled with all the fullness of God?



Have you ever thought that our bodies being the temple of God was more of a figure of speech or a metaphor than a reality?



Have you ever taken a moment to think about your union with Christ, and that He is the one living your Christian life through you – I live, yet not I?



How does knowing that you can be filled with all the fullness of God affect your heart and soul for the glory of Christ?



How often have you thought on the weight of your heavenly inheritance in Christ, of which the indwelling Holy Spirit is the guarantee?

Colossians 1:19 – Session Five – Song Playlist: 

• Rise Again (Bonus Track) – City Harvest Church – My Beloved Album 

• Rest in Jesus – Robert Pierre – Nothing Without You Album

• Alive in Me – JJ Weeks Band – As Long As We Can Breathe Album 

• Grace – Steve Fee – Grace Single 

• Grace on Top of Grace – Fellowship Creative – Eclipsed Album 

• Praise to You – The Vigil Project – Vigil (Series #1) Album 

• Holy (Wedding Song) [Live] – UMobile Worship – Our God is Faithful (Live Worship from the University of Mobile) Album 

Scripture References for Further Study: 

1.) Colossians 2:9
2.) John 8:24
3.) John 17:3
4.) 1 John 5:11
5.) 1 John 5:20
6.) Colossians 1:19 (NASB)
7.) Colossians 1:19 (ESV)
8.) Philippians 2:7
9.) John 1:14
10.) John 1:16
11.) Romans 2:5
12.) John 7:38
13.) John 15:26
14.) Luke 4:1
15.) Matthew 3:16-17
16.) Romans 8:33
17.) John 8:17-18
18.) John 8:21
19.) 1 John 5:9
20.) 1 John 2:22-23
21.) 1 John 5:10
22.) Luke 4:14
23.) Colossians 1:26-27
24.) Isaiah 57:15
25.) 1 Corinthians 3:16
26.) 1 Corinthians 6:19
27.) John 17:22-23
28.) Romans 8:38-39
29.) John 10:27-29
30.) Ephesians 1:13-14
31.) Romans 8:14
32.) Galatians 2:20
33.) Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
34.) Ezekiel 36:26
35.) Ephesians 3:14-19
36.) 2 Corinthians 5:17
37.) Ephesians 1:22-23
38.) Psalm 24:1
39.) Isaiah 6:3
40.) Colossians 3:1-4

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Four

Welcome to week four of my Preeminence of Christ study. Next week will be yet another week off, as one of my ladies is going on vacation and I decided to suspend the class at church a week for her. I do not want to post my studies online before they're presented at church. Therefore week five won't be available until November 7th. 

Lord Jesus, please help Your church come to know You in a magnificent way. Open our eyes to Your deity. Reveal Your beauty. Show one and all that we come to Christ for more of CHRIST, and not for the blessings You bestow. May we love the Giver more than the gifts, and focus our lives on You alone. Wean us from this world, and make us fit for Heaven. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

If you've missed the previous studies, you can find them here:

Preeminence of Christ - Week One

Preeminence of Christ - Week Two

Preeminence of Christ - Week Three

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST – Week Four – Colossians 1:18

By: Becka Goings

Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

~*~*~

“And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
~~Colossians 1:18

In the glorious exposition of Christ’s deity found in Colossians 1:15-20, the Apostle Paul has been building his case that the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate. In verse 15, we are told that Christ is the image of the invisible God. In verse 16, we learn He is not merely the image of God, He IS God, for He created it all, and by Him, through Him, and for Him are all things. In the 17th verse, Paul makes it clear that not only is the Lord Christ our eternal Creator, He is also the Sustainer of the universe. Each one of these points builds off the other, until we get to Paul’s theological crescendo in verse 18. Even within this verse, Paul continues to build his picture of Christ, by describing Him first as the head of the body, which is His church.

The metaphor of the head and the body was a favorite of the Apostle Paul. He used the analogy in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 1:21-23, Ephesians 4 & 5, and Colossians 2:18-19. As metaphors go, this one is brilliant in its simplicity. A body has many members, and each member has its own job. Yet not apart from the other members. And it is the head that moves them all. Our unity with each other comes through our unity with Christ, and by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit within us.

The Holy Spirit ensures that Christ’s presence remains on earth through His church even though Christ Himself has ascended bodily up to Heaven. The very same Spirit indwells all of Christ’s children, and because of this, we are in union with each other, thus making the church one united body. Christ Himself is the one who sent His Spirit to do this miraculous work, and it is the Father who appointed Him as Head of the body. Ephesians 1:22-23 says:

“22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

I love the wording in this verse, that God the Father gave Christ as head over all things to the church. Christ, by the mere fact He is God, is already head over all things. However, by His work on the cross and His victory over death, He has also purchased His right as Head of all things. Christ’s finished work on the cross has proven Him worthy of this right. He has given Himself two witnesses to His ownership of the universe – by creation and by purchase. The reason why I love the wording of this verse in Ephesians is that God gave Christ to His church. He is ours, sisters. He is ours! This magnificent God-man has given Himself for us – and to us – in eternal union. It’s almost too much to comprehend. Once we come to see and know how high He is compared to our low estate, it is truly humbling to realize this glorious God went to such great lengths to save us from the power of sin and death. And more than that, He has given us Himself, the greatest Treasure and richest Reward that can ever be had.

The Holy Spirit unites us with Christ, and because of this, each individual member, no matter how weak, is vital to the church. Consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:21-22:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable”

How would we scratch an itch if we didn’t have fingernails? How could we eat solid food without teeth? How could we protect our eyes without eyelids? It’s kind of funny to think about, but this is what Paul was getting at, that even the small members of the body have important jobs to do. God has not created any inconsequential members of our physical bodies, and neither are there inconsequential members of the Body of Christ. And while we are His Body in one corporate whole, each believer is individually directed by the Head of the church, just as our pinky fingers and little toes are directed by our own head. Christ is intimately involved in directing the lives of every single member of His church.

In fact, Christ is so united to His body, that He considers what’s done to us as done to Him. We know this from texts like Acts 9:4 where the Lord appears to Saul of Tarsus, who, prior to his conversion, was well-known for persecuting and executing Christians, and asks him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” We see this again in our Lord’s own words regarding the sheep and the goats judgment of Matthew 25:40 & 25:45, that what they did or didn’t do to His brethren was done to the Lord Himself. This point is further driven home by Paul in Ephesians 5:28-30:

“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”

This text is a mandate for men to love their wives as Christ loves His church as His own body. Husbands and wives are considered one flesh by God (Ephesians 5:31), and Christ and the believer are one by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ on this earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). When our Lord purchased us upon His cross, He not only purchased the rights to our souls, but to our bodies as well. One day, we shall be glorified, and our mortal bodies will be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21). This is why Paul tells us many times to honor the Lord in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:20), not to be joined with prostitutes (1 Corinthians 6:15-16), and not to be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14). The body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). This isn’t metaphorical, but a reality. We are not merely influenced by the Spirit of God, He dwells within us, and it is through this spiritual union with Christ that Christ considers us of His own body.

What interests me about the “Body of Christ” is that there are a few applications. First, as we have already explored, we agree with Paul that His body is His church. Second, we take in Christ’s body by the bread of communion. Third, we look to events in the Gospels that happened to Christ’s physical body.

With regards to communion, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:17:

“Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

At communion, a single loaf of bread is broken for all to eat a piece. Eating of the bread makes us one body, because many people eat of the same single loaf. This is a metaphor for Christ Himself, as we all partake of the True Bread from Heaven as well, likewise making us one body in Him.

In thinking more on Christ’s physical body, I have to wonder if God also meant for us to look on Him and see His church hidden within. We are told many times in Scripture that we will suffer (John 16:33), to expect suffering (1 Peter 4:12), and to rejoice in suffering for His name’s sake (Matthew 10:22, Philippians 1:29, James 1:2, 1 Peter 3:13-17, 1 Peter 4:12-19). Christ obviously suffered bodily. In that, we share suffering with Him. The Apostle John also recorded that Scripture was fulfilled on the cross in John 19:36:

“For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

Now, this was not a prophecy, rather, John was quoting from Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 that none of the bones of the Passover lamb were to be broken. Since Christ is the Lamb of God, crucified on Passover, His bones were not broken either. During crucifixion, the Romans would break the legs of those condemned to die to make their demise all the faster. We see they did so in John 19:32 to the two thieves flanking Christ on Calvary. Yet they did not break Christ’s legs because He was already dead. This is a very important detail. If Christ’s church is His body, then God did not want His physical bones broken in any way. If any of Christ’s bones had been broken, it might be argued by our enemy, the Accuser, that some in His church could be lost to Him, or broken beyond repair. Christ suffered more in His body than we can ever know; we even say of the bread at communion, “this is His body, broken for you”. But none of His bones were physically broken. Not even one.

Then, we see at His resurrection, our Lord Christ has been given a new, eternal body. This is not a different body than the one He had in life, it is His same body, glorified. He retained His scars, His disciples were able to touch Him, and He could eat physical food, so we know He was raised bodily and did not return as a spirit (Luke 24:39-43). Those of us who are in union with Him by His Holy Spirit, will also have our same lowly bodies transformed into a glorious body, one that is like His in every way (Philippians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 John 3:2). These very bodies will one day walk the streets of gold in eternal bliss. Praise God!

Paul’s next line in Colossians 1:18 says, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead”. Just as in our previous study of verse 17, notice in verse 18 the verb tense “he is”, again solidifying Christ’s eternal nature as God. Yet while verse 17 says, “He is before all things”, in the very next verse, Paul says, “He is the beginning”. It sounds very similar, but we have to be careful here, because this is not the Apostle repeating himself.

In verse 17, Paul explains that Christ existed before anything was created. In verse 18, he makes it known that everything has its beginning in Him. Christ literally IS the beginning of all things. Remember as the Apostle John stated in John 1:3, “Without Him was not any thing made that was made.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ~~John 1:1

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” ~~Genesis 1:1

“He is the beginning.” ~~Colossians 1:18

Paul is relentless in this Colossians 1 passage, again and again solidifying the doctrine of Christ’s deity as the image of the invisible God, the Creator God, the Sustainer God, the Eternal God, the Sovereign God. He is not second in command to the Father, He is the One seated on the Throne of Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal, and He has been given as Head over all things to the church.

He is the beginning, Paul says, and the firstborn from the dead. Here again we see the word prōtotokos (pro-TAHT-oh-koss) for “firstborn”. Paul uses the same word as he did back in verse 15, that Christ is the firstborn of all creation, yet he uses it to describe the firstborn from the dead. However, this can be somewhat confusing, as we know during Christ’s ministry, and from some stories in the Old Testament, that Christ Himself was not the first person to rise from the dead. He raised not only Lazarus (John 11:1-44), but also Jairus’s twelve-year-old daughter (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56), and the widow’s son (Luke 7:11-17).

Again, notice Paul’s wording here, that Christ is the firstborn from the dead, not of the dead. This is an important distinction, and one of the many reasons why Bible translations faithful to the original texts are quite important when studying Scripture. There are two differences in Christ’s resurrection that no other resurrection before it could boast. The first is quite obvious; Christ was able to raise Himself from the dead. No one who has ever died can self-resurrect. The second is that He is the first to be raised in an incorruptible, immortal body. In this way, He is the firstborn from the dead. Everyone else who had been raised in the Bible would eventually die again. Not Christ. And since He is the Head of the body, the church, our one-in-Spirit union with Him ensures that we too shall one day rise from the dead at the Resurrection of the Saints. Where the head goes, the body follows.

Our resurrection from the dead is the completion of our salvation (Philippians 1:6), and our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Every person is born in sin and dead in sin until we are reborn by the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:5, Ephesians 2:1, John 3:3). Our rebirth as children of God is our spirit’s resurrection to life in His name, with our bodily resurrection to follow upon Christ’s return. Romans 8:30 is sometimes referred to as the “golden chain” of our redemption. Notice the progression of all these things are past tense. What He has begun in us, He will be faithful to complete:

“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Scripture calls the indwelling Holy Spirit the “earnest of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14), or in other words, the promise of our coming resurrection.

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." ~~Romans 8:11 

If we have the Spirit of God indwelling us, then He is our guarantee that our bodies will finally and fully resemble our sanctified spirits – and on That Day of our glorification, we’ll finally and fully resemble Christ to perfection.

Here is where we come to the crescendo of Paul’s careful exposition throughout this entire Colossians passage. He has built truth upon truth for the identity of Jesus Christ, making it clear that He is before all things, that He is the beginning, and that He is the firstborn from the dead. For what purpose? To illustrate that in all things, He might be preeminent. No one above Him, no one before Him, no one beside Him.

Not only is Christ first in the universe by way of being God, but He has placed Himself first in the grand story of redemption. He is the Head of the church, and the firstborn from the dead, that He might be the firstborn of many brothers (Romans 8:29). It is His image to which we are conformed, and He is the One who deserves glory for it all.

Scripture has told us time and again that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Christ Himself claimed He was humble at heart (Matthew 11:29). Let’s take a moment to consider this. No one would argue that Christ was the most humble man to ever live. And yet how much does this confuse us, knowing our God is a humble God? God is Almighty, and His power is beyond compare. In our minds, we have a hard time figuring out why such a Being would exalt humility. Why is the Kingdom of God seemingly backwards? The last shall be first. Persecution is blessing. Affliction perfects faith.

To our fallen humanity, strength is found in our exaltation. But Christ says no, when you are weak, then you are strong. Why? Because we are leaning on Him – on His strength – in faith. In all these “backwards” ideas of Christ’s Gospel, He teaches us to let go of this world and look solely upon Him. Humility fills us with the praises of God, not the praise of ourselves. All these things that make the Christian life so difficult for us are serving to make Christ preeminent in our lives. If we can view persecutions and afflictions as our Lord preparing us for glory, then we can rejoice in our pain.

Ultimately, pride steals glory from God. Pride is glorying in oneself. Pride is puffing up ourselves to look good in the eyes of others. Jesus tells us in Matthew 23:12 that whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. As Christians, we are to hold up Christ and show His beauty to the world. And in His own life, Jesus has given us a splendid example of how to live a humble life. Never did He boast in Himself; He did everything for the glory of His Father. Imagine how far God stooped in the Person of Christ. He left His glorious Throne to be united with our flesh forever. He humbled Himself, even to death upon a wooden cross. He literally became a curse for us. Philippians 2:3-8 says:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We know God exalts the humble. Our exaltation, therefore, comes from God alone, and how stunning is that truth? I know of no Christian who wouldn’t want their glory to be solely found in God glorying over them. Can you even imagine the honor of God On High exalting you before heaven and earth? And this is exactly what He’s done for our Lord. There has been no greater humbling in history than the humbling of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is no greater exaltation than what He has received at the hand of our Heavenly Father. Philippians 2 continues in verses 9-11:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Christ’s is the name above all names. To Him, every knee shall bow. To Him, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is, in all things, preeminent. This day is coming, and what a glorious day it will be! However, these verses reveal something quite shocking if we take a step back and consider the weight of these words.

There is one place in this universe where Christ is not preeminent. There is only one place in all of creation that shuts Him out. This barren, lifeless place is in the hearts of mankind. Even the demons believe – and shudder (James 2:19). But depraved humanity, lost in sin, denies Christ’s very existence. They do not, can not, and will not bow the knee to Him. Our sin nature is so pervasive and prevalent, that even for believers, God has made it a command to make Him preeminent in our lives. It is very telling that the First Great Commandment of God is to love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. What pitiful, rebellious creatures we are, that God must make for us a command what is quite obvious to all heavenly creatures.

In fact, looking back to the Fall in the Garden, our fore-parents’ first sin was mistrust of God, and a desire to be like Him, just as Satan wanted for himself. They idolized what the forbidden fruit would give them, and were not thankful for the bounty they already had in God. They believed God held back something good from them, and thus turned away from Him to obtain it. Humanity’s ultimate Fall into sin, therefore, was not having the Lord God preeminent in their hearts, and that is still the root of all sin and rebellion today.

Is Christ preeminent in your life? Is He truly? Take a moment to examine yourself. Do you seek Him? Do you have a deep love for reading His Word? Do you have a drive within you to know Him no matter the personal cost to you? When you have a quiet moment to yourself, where do your thoughts fly? Do you meditate on Scripture? How often do you pray? Are your prayers formal or intimate? Do you avoid God when you sin? Do you love His people? Do you obey His commands? Is His Word stored up in your heart? Is your Christianity the most obvious thing about you? Do you adore Christ above and beyond your spouse, children, family, friends, and pets? If you lost everything tomorrow, would Christ be enough for you? Would Christ be enough through adversity? Pain? Tragedy? Persecution? Do you long to be with Him? Do you cry out for His return?

Hear me when I say this: Christianity is the adoration and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Great Object of all our affection, all our strength, all our thoughts, and all our souls. We don’t come to Christ for His blessings alone. We come to Christ for Christ! Does your faith resemble Judas Iscariot or Mary of Bethany? Are you hanging around Him for what He can give you, only to leave Him when He doesn’t follow through? Or do you adore Him unashamedly without a care for who sees you weeping at His feet? Is your love for Christ a surface love, one that admires Him only? Or is your love for Him a vast ocean you are lost in, with no shore, no bottom, and no limits? How beautiful do you find our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you merely grateful for all He’s done for you, or do you stand stunned before His Throne, in awe that Someone So High could look upon you at all? Have you spoken of Him, or His name, in vain, or have you wept like Isaiah that you have unclean lips before this Glorious, Almighty God?

If you feel cold toward Christ at all, I implore you – ask Him to help you love Him. Even if we adore Him more than our own lives, we should strive to love Him more than we do. He should be the One who defines us. In Him is where we find our identity, before anything else. Christ is infinitely better than anything this world can offer. He is worth leaving everything to follow Him. Every single sinner who encountered our precious Lord in Scripture left their sinful lives behind to pursue Him. They found in Him something greater and more marvelous than their identity as a prostitute, as a tax collector, or even as a Pharisee. He told them, “Go, and sin no more” and each one of them rose up to follow Him in the beauty of holiness.

Have you seen Christ’s beauty in this way? Has He so captivated you that you would lay everything down, absolutely everything in your life, to find yourself in Him? Like the Apostle Paul, have you counted it all as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ? Have you counted these things as dung, as rubbish, to be tossed aside, in order that you may gain Christ? (Philippians 3:8) If not, cry out to Him for the grace to see Him high and lifted up. He is infinitely worthy of all our praise. The great glory of a Christian’s life is a holy preoccupation with Christ. Lord, help us to place You first in our hearts and first in our lives, that in all things to us, You might be preeminent. Amen.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.) True or False - Christ is so united to His church, that He considers what’s done to us as done to Him.




2.) Husbands and wives are considered one __________ by God (Ephesians 5:31), and Christ and the believer are one in ___________ (1 Corinthians 6:17).




3.) What does Paul mean when he says Christ is the “firstborn from the dead”?




4.) Where is the one place in all of creation where Christ is not preeminent?




5.) Complete this sentence: The great glory of a Christian’s life is a _____ _____________ with Christ.

Questions for Personal Reflection

Have you ever thought about your union with Christ being so personal, that He considers whatever happens to you as happening to Him?




How can this deeply personal union with Christ help you live your life for His glory?




Do you know your place in the Body of Christ? What is it that you absolutely love to do? What has He gifted you with? Sanctify it and use it for the glory of Christ and there is your place in His Body.




Are you hanging around Christ for what He can give you? Or do you adore Him unashamedly without a care for who sees you?




Examine yourself. Is Christ truly preeminent in your life? If not, ask Him to help you place Him first in your heart.

Colossians 1:18 – Session Four – Song Playlist:

• Name Above All Names – Sovereign Grace Music – Risen Album

• Song of the Beautiful Bride – Paul Wilbur – Your Great Name Album

• Living Hope – Phil Wickham – Living Hope Single

• Resurrection Power – Chris Tomlin – Resurrection Power Single

• He Rose Again – The Vigil Project – Vigil (Series One) Album

• First Love – Petra – On Fire Album

• Count It All – John Waller – As for Me and My House Album

Scripture References for Further Study:

1.) Romans 12
2.) 1 Corinthians 12
3.) Ephesians 1:21-23
4.) Ephesians 4 & 5
5.) Colossians 2:18-19
6.) Ephesians 1:22-23
7.) 1 Corinthians 12:21-22
8.) Acts 9:4
9.) Matthew 25:40
10.) Matthew 25:45
11.) Ephesians 5:28-30
12.) Ephesians 5:31
13.) 1 Corinthians 6:17
14.) 2 Corinthians 5:20
15.) Philippians 3:21
16.) 1 Corinthians 6:20
17.) 1 Corinthians 6:15-16
18.) 2 Corinthians 6:14
19.) 1 Corinthians 3:16
20.) 1 Corinthians 6:19
21.) 1 Corinthians 10:17
22.) John 16:33
23.) 1 Peter 4:12
24.) Matthew 10:22
25.) Philippians 1:29
26.) James 1:2
27.) 1 Peter 3:13-17
28.) 1 Peter 4:12-19
29.) John 19:36
30.) Exodus 12:46
31.) Number 9:12
32.) John 19:32
33.) Luke 24:39-43
34.) Philippians 3:21
35.) 1 Corinthians 15:52
36.) 1 John 3:2
37.) John 1:3
38.) John 1:1
39.) Genesis 1:1
40.) Colossians 1:18
41.) John 11:1-44
42.) Matthew 9:18-26
43.) Mark 5:21-43
44.) Luke 8:40-56
45.) Luke 7:11-17
46.) Philippians 1:6
47.) Colossians 1:27
48.) Psalm 51:5
49.) Ephesians 2:1
50.) John 3:3
51.) Romans 8:30
52.) Ephesians 1:14
53.) Romans 8:11
54.) Romans 8:29
55.) Proverbs 3:34
56.) James 4:6
57.) 1 Peter 5:5

58.) Matthew 11:29

59.) Matthew 23:12
60.) Philippians 2:3-8

61.) Philippians 2:9-11

62.) James 2:9

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Three

Welcome to this third installment of my 6-week study on the Preeminence of Christ from Colossians 1:15-20. I praise the Lord that He compelled me to write this, not only for the women of my church, but also for those around the world who read my blog. Recently, Ligonier Ministries did a poll of American Evangelicals, and found that a staggering 73% believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is the first and greatest being created by God. No, church. No. We cannot allow our atrophied Christology to be on par with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Our Lord Jesus Christ IS GOD.

And by His grace, I pray He will communicate His glory to you through this study. O, Lord Jesus, please be with us, and open the eyes of Your church, that You are our Almighty God, Emmanuel, God with us, who became flesh, who destroyed the power of death. Send Your Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts with this magnificent Truth. Amen.

With that said, let's dive in. If you've missed the first two installments, here they are:

The Preeminence of Christ - Week One
The Preeminence of Christ - Week Two

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST – Week Three – Colossians 1:17 

By: Becka Goings 

Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

~*~*~ 

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
~~Colossians 1:17

Colossians 1:17 seems like a redundancy when we read it in context of our entire passage. It seems to restate the lofty truths Paul has already conveyed in the previous verses we’ve studied, or the ones we’ve yet to look at. This is a short sentence, and if we’re not careful, we can miss the rich theology packed within it. When we study Scripture, we need to train ourselves to slow down and ask God to show us the meaning behind these phrases, and sometimes even individual words. God is very particular about the words He has chosen for His inerrant Word, and we must consider each word in a way we might have never thought about before.

To give an example, one way to dig in to a verse is to consider the tense of a verb. God specifically named Himself, “I AM”, not “I Was” or “I Will Be”. What can we tell about God from His name? Through every age, God “is”. The name I AM conveys His eternal nature. He always IS. Allow me to read a quote from one of my favorite pastors and teachers of Scripture, Dr. John MacArthur, on this very subject from the first issue of Expositor Magazine:

“[Christ] says (bitingly) that these men who fancied themselves experts in biblical scholarship didn’t really know the Scriptures at all: “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.’” (Matt. 22:31-32).

“Notice the powerful force of the argument: Jesus is quoting Exodus 3:6, from the heart of the Pentateuch—a text whose doctrine they could not dispute. And the logic of the argument hinges on the verb tense inherent in God’s name: “I AM” –present, continuous tense. God Himself is speaking, long after the deaths of the original patriarchs.

“[This] shows that the authority and inerrancy of Scripture extends to every element of the text, including not only the tiny jots and tittles that were used to spell the actual words, but also the verb tenses. Jesus’ whole point was based on the tense of the simplest, most common verb in the Hebrew language.”

~~John MacArthur, Expositor Magazine Issue #1, page 15
(quoted with permission from Expositor Magazine)

Now let’s look at Paul’s wording in verse 17.

“And he is before all things”.

Notice he says of Christ, “he is”. This is both interesting and telling. When you speak of someone in the past tense, you say “was”. “He was before all things”. But no, that’s not how Paul phrases it. Christ “is before all things”. While “before all things” is past tense, Paul emphasizes that Christ “is”. It’s subtle, but it’s there. This confirms the eternality of Christ on the same level of “I AM”. This verse also interprets “the firstborn of all creation” from Colossians 1:15. Remember how, in context, we learned the Greek word “prōtotokos” (pro-TAHT-oh-koss) from verse 15 means “the first” or “preeminent”? How do we know Paul didn’t mean Christ to be acknowledged as the first created Being? Because he says in verse 17 that “he is before all things”. If Christ is eternal, and if He is before all things, then He cannot be a created Being. The Apostle John agrees in the magnificent opening to his Gospel with these beloved words from John 1:1-3:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” 

Here again, we come to a passage where we have to be very careful to slow down and study every word, and not read the passage as we always have, glossing over any gems that might be hidden within. How many of us have wondered at verse three and John’s apparent disregard for grammar or clarity? I know I have. It’s one of those verses that makes my brain twist into a pretzel. But slow down, read it word-for-word, and ask God for its meaning.

“Without…him…was…not…any…thing…made…that…was…made.” 

John uses this phrase to flesh out the previous statement about Christ, that all things were made through Him. This phrase is worded as it is quite deliberately to drive the previous point home and make it absolutely clear that Christ is not, nor can He be, a created Being. Someone might argue that, sure, all things were created by Christ, but Christ was created by the Father. NO, both John and Paul shut down that idea when discussing our Lord’s deity. Christ cannot be created, because “without him was not any thing made that was made.” In other words, if anything is “made”, it was “made” by Christ. Christ cannot be a created Being, because He is the very One who has created everything! To say that Christ is “made” is to say He somehow spontaneously created Himself, and that cannot be, as we know God is eternal, and the Apostles lay out quite clearly, that Jesus Christ is God. The Word was with God, and the Word was God, according to the Apostle John, and He is before all things, according to the Apostle Paul.

While Paul’s point was that Christ existed before all created things, I also like the second definition of the word “before” applied to this text. The King is before, or in front of, His creation. He is before all things. When taken in this way, its as if creation itself stands in His holy court, giving us a picture of His omnipresence, and also emphasizing that He exists outside of His creation. We can almost imagine the Lord Christ turning creation in His hand, as if appraising it like a jewel. In fact, I do believe Paul wanted to give us an inkling of this idea when he says, “and in him all things hold together.”

Creation holds together, or consists, because Christ holds it in His hand. He holds it all together on His will alone. This doctrine is stated elsewhere in Scripture as well, in the first half of Hebrews 1:3:

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” 

The writer of Hebrews, if not the Apostle Paul himself, was at least someone who knew our passage in Colossians 1. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But the Hebrews text goes into stronger detail, using more powerful language to restate what Paul had written in Colossians. We get a fuller picture here of what it means that in Christ, all things hold together. We are told that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. This is an extraordinary description of Christ! There is no argument here, no opportunity for discussion on the matter. The truth is quite simple. This universe is upheld by Christ, the very man who walked these dusty roads and was crucified on a Roman cross. Imagine how mind-blowing this must have been to those who knew Him in the first century! It was not enough to declare Him God; the Apostles portrayed Him with a high view of His sovereign power. This magnificent, all-powerful God was born into our world to live our life and die our death. I can imagine all who heard this message saying to one another, “Who is He? Why did He do this? We must know Him!”

Now, an earthly king certainly has mighty power, able to make laws, wage war, and decide whether someone lives or dies. But no person alive has ever been able to uphold the universe. That power belongs to God alone. And notice from the text He doesn’t uphold it as the Greeks imagined Atlas did, upon His broad back, struggling and groaning to lift the weight of it. No, Christ doesn’t even break a sweat – He upholds His creation simply by…what? The word of His power. Our Mighty God says, “Be upheld,” and thus creation obeys, just as the wind and waves once obeyed His command to “be still”.

Notice also how beautifully Hebrews 1:3 reflects back on John 1:1, that the universe is upheld by the word of His power, and that in the beginning was the Word. Scripture is like a grand tapestry, masterfully and divinely interwoven into one glorious image of Christ as our Creator God.

Paul wants us to know in Colossians 1:17 that Christ is not only the Creator of the universe, He is the Upholder of it also. He has not left it to spin on its own like a wound-up watch, as many deists claim. There is no such thing as a hands-off God who stands back and merely watches it all play out, aloof in the heavens. No, He is actively involved in upholding the universe in every single moment. If He ceased to uphold it, everything would cease to be. By saying “all things hold together” or “all things consist”, Paul means that quite literally, Christ is holding all things together by the force of His will alone. If He no longer willed to hold it, everything would instantly be destroyed. Therefore, it is the will of our Lord Christ that binds atoms and cells together to create all things.

Not only did He create the stars, and not only does He hold them in their courses, but He actively holds all their atoms together as well.

It is this upholding power that declares His sovereignty, and also how miracles can happen. While some scientists and brilliant minds of the day insist that miracles are impossible due to the laws of science and physics, these laws matter not to Christ, as He is the very one who upholds the laws of science and physics! He can, quite literally, do anything He wants with the jewel of His creation in the palm of His hand.

Let’s explore some examples from Scripture. He is sovereign over our lives, holding our deaths in His sovereignty. Have you ever thought that your heart beats because Christ wills it to beat? Let’s take a moment to ponder that. We are all alive this very moment because Christ in the heavens is actively allowing our hearts to beat and our lungs to take in breath. To show you an illustration of this, let’s consider Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5:1-11.

“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”

These two people sold a piece of land and claimed they had donated the entire price to the church, but the reality was that they held some money back for themselves. They had lied to the Holy Spirit. What did God do? He struck them dead. Right then and there. First Ananias in verse 5, then Sapphira in verse 10. Christ removed His will to continue their lives and immediately, their hearts stopped and they dropped dead.

Verse 11 says a great fear came upon the whole church. I should say so! If we truly understood that we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28) upon Christ’s will alone, how differently would we live for Him? Puritan Thomas Watson once said, “Every time we draw our breath, we suck in mercy.” Puritan George Swinnock says it as well, “Every breath of your life is a gift of mercy.”

This gives me a healthy fear of Christ in knowing my life is at His mercy, however, it also gives me a sense of peace in knowing He holds my life in His sovereign hand. My life will end precisely when He wills it to, and not a moment before. George Whitefield, an eighteenth century evangelist, who, along with Jonathan Edwards, ushered in the First Great Awakening, once said, “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.”

I love that. Nothing can end us until Christ ordains it. Did you know all our work for Christ was preordained by God? Ephesians 2:10 says,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

The moment we have finished our work of glorifying Christ on earth, we are ushered Home. Praise the Lord! Don’t leave me outside of Heaven one single moment longer than I need to be! This knowledge can also bring us a great peace when our loved ones in Christ are taken from us. To our understanding, it might seem too soon, or too sudden, or without rhyme or reason. But no, their works were finished, and Christ called them Home. What a beautiful comfort to know that our Lord, who desires for His children to be with Him where He is and to see His glory (John 17:24), has called our loved ones unto Himself to see Him as He is! No one leaves this world prematurely or outside of God’s will. This realization also takes some fear out of dying. None of us know when we’ll be called Home, but we shouldn’t fear the hour of our death, for it ushers us into the presence of Christ Himself! What once was a curse and the very wage of sin, is now counted as gain for those who love Christ.

And despite the unbelief of atheists and agnostics, they too are subject to the will and mercy of Christ. Every moment they breathe earth’s air is a mercy outside of Hell. In Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he describes the fate of these like this:

“There is nothing between you and Hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up…if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock. If it were not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment.”

God is under no obligation to keep any unbeliever from falling into Hell, and yet here we are, observing His mercy and grace in upholding the lives of those who blaspheme Him to the four winds. And praise the Lord for it as well, for if a person is still breathing, there is still hope for their salvation. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace in our lives.

Christ is the Lord of Life; not only is He sovereign over death, He is also sovereign over life. All of us know the story of Lazarus coming forth at our Lord’s command after being four-days dead (John 11:43). Or Christ’s own resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6). Or our own rising from the dead at the Resurrection of the Saints (1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4). There is coming a day when the entire church will be raised from the dead at the same time – those who are asleep in Christ, and those who are alive and remain. 1 Corinthians 15:52 says,

“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” 

Philippians 3:21 describes it this way:

“who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” 

Aside from my being excited about our future glorification, these two verses tell us something of God’s amazing, unstoppable power. First, this glorification is lightning-quick – it happens in the twinkling of an eye. Probably faster than you can snap your fingers. One moment we are mortal, the next, immortal. There is no evolution here, no slow, subtle change over time. We are instantaneously glorified. How? By the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. By His upholding power. God is perfectly able to alter all things immediately and completely to conform them to His will. Even our very bodies shall obey Him apart from our own wills. Our Mighty God declares, “Be glorified!” and thus this flesh shall obey. I don’t know about you, but there are times I just need to have a moment to take it all in. This Almighty power of God to subject all things to Himself is stunningly glorious.

Christ is Sovereign, and this entire universe bows to His will. He created the universe, He keeps it spinning through His magnificent omniscience and omnipotence, and He is sovereign over it; anything He wills comes to pass. The Lord Jesus Christ does not need anyone’s permission to do anything in His universe, nor does He ask for it. I’m sure we’ve all heard preaching of that sort, to “give God permission” to do this or that. But when you come to the realization of how huge God is and how puny we are, how massive His glory compared to our bodies of dust, how unstoppable His power compared to our weakness, how great His holiness compared to our hideous sin nature, you can see how a theology that “gives God permission” is a certain blasphemy.

Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? (Romans 9:20). Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (Job 38:2) What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? (Psalm 8:4)

A high view of Christ and His power as God is what we desperately need, to worship Him and serve Him to the best of our abilities. We cannot be satisfied with lower, lesser views of Him that portray Him “needing our permission” or begging us to come to Him, as if He is impotent rather than omnipotent. We would do well to remember:

“Our God is a consuming fire.” ~~Hebrews 12:29

…and fear Him accordingly.

I wonder if the Apostle Paul is leading worship in Heaven. Take a look at a verse from the book of Revelation and hear the words of the 24 elders who worship God at His Throne. Revelation 4:11:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” 

This sounds astoundingly like our text in Colossians 1:17. Let’s read it again:

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” 

Praise the Lord! The saints will be singing these very praises to God in Glory! What an amazing witness in the book of Revelation. Here is one more proof that Jesus Christ is God, as the Apostle Paul lays out doctrine for Christ’s deity as the Creator of all things in Colossians 1, and the Apostle John records the saints in Heaven praising the One who created all things as our Lord and our God. The Bible is not ambiguous about the identity of the Sovereign of the universe. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain.

The book of Revelation also tells us our Lord will not hold this universe forever. One day, all these things shall pass away when He creates a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21:1 says,

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” 

This is what creation has been groaning for – its redemption (Romans 8:22-23). Ever since the Fall in the Garden, sin has cursed creation itself. Death and decay did not exist until sin entered the world. How amazing to think the Lord Jesus Christ will one day glorify His creation just as He glorifies His saints! And even more amazing than that is knowing this resplendent, sovereign God who redeemed it all for Himself! How can we not long to know more about this glorious Being who dwells in unapproachable light? The more we examine the glories of Christ On High, the more we come to adore Him for all He has done, not only for His creation, not only for His church, but for each one of us specifically.

How involved is Christ in your life? Whether or not we acknowledge Him day-to-day, He is intimately involved in all we do, for just as His universe is upheld by the word of His power, so too are our lives. Whatever might drag us down, make us stumble, or rob us of our strength, the Lord Jesus Christ holds it all in the palm of His hand. All things will hold together if He wills to hold it. And we know His children cannot be snatched from His hand (John 10:28). Nor can we be snatched from the Father’s hand (John 10:29).

Christ holds onto us with His sovereign power. As Romans 8:38-39 says,

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

What’s remarkable to me about this verse is how Paul says that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Taking this knowledge and coupling it with what we know about Christ’s power over creation in Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3, we see that Christ holds onto us with a sustaining power that overrules the sin, the corruption, and the curse that’s upon creation. For those who love God, all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). He literally manipulates creation by His power to hold all things together, to ensure that nothing in His creation can separate His children from His love. Not death, life, angels, demons, things now, things future, kings, presidents, mountains, valleys, or anything else you could think of can take us outside of the Almighty power of our God, in whom all things consist.

If creation is a jewel before Him that He turns and appraises, how much more precious to our Lord Christ are His children, those for whom He shed His own blood to purchase? How much more does He hold onto us, we who are His inheritance? Never doubt that He has you right where He wants you. Never wonder if He sees you in your despair. He hears your every sigh, and saves your every tear (Psalm 56:8). You are His, and His you will remain. Nothing, absolutely nothing can take us away from Him.

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” 

If Christ is before you as your King, if you are in Him, then all things in your life shall hold together by His power to subject all things to Himself. O, Lord Jesus, we don’t deserve Your mercy and grace, but we thank You and praise You for holding us with Your great strength, and for giving us the privilege of knowing the wonder of You. Praise Your name forever.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 

1.) According to Dr. John MacArthur, one way to dig into Bible study is to consider the _______ of a _______.



2.) What does John 1:3 mean when it says, “without him was not any thing made that was made”?



3.) According to Hebrews 1:3, Christ upholds the universe by the _______ of His _______.



4.) Does anyone die prematurely, without rhyme or reason, or outside of God’s will?



5.) True or false? The Bible is ambiguous about who is the Sovereign of the universe.

Questions for Personal Reflection 

Have you ever given much thought to the fact that your heart beats by the will of Christ?


Have you ever thought long on God’s sovereignty, that even the atoms of your own body will obey Him before they obey you?


If you’re honest with yourself, have you ever believed you had the right to give God permission to do something in your life, thus making yourself sovereign over Him?


Is Christ before all things in your life?


Do you truly have faith that by His power, all things in your life hold together?

Colossians 1:17 – Session Three – Song Playlist: 

• Sovereign Over Us – Breakaway Ministries – Lift Him High Album

• All Praise to Him – Sovereign Grace Music – Prayers of the Saints Album

• Shepherd of My Soul – Kutless – Alpha/Omega Album

• Unto the Lamb – The Prestonwood Choir – The Best of The Prestonwood Choir 

• Christ Be All Around Me – Shane & Shane – The Worship Initiative Album 

• You Hold it All – Travis Ryan – You Hold It All (Live) Album 

• Sovereign – Chris Tomlin – Burning Lights Album 

Scripture References for Further Study: 

1.) Colossians 1:17 

2.) Matthew 22:31-32
3.) Exodus 3:6
4.) Colossians 1:15
5.) John 1:1-3
6.) Hebrews 1:3
7.) Acts 5:1-11
8.) Acts 17:28
9.) Ephesians 2:10
10.) John 17:24
11.) John 11:43
12.) Matthew 28:6
13.) 1 Corinthians 15
14.) 1 Thessalonians 4
15.) 1 Corinthians 15:52
16.) Philippians 3:21
17.) Romans 9:20
18.) Job 38:2
19.) Psalm 8:4
20.) Hebrews 12:29
21.) Revelation 4:11
22.) Revelation 21:1
23.) Romans 8:22-23
24.) John 10:28
25.) John 10:29
26.) Romans 8:38-39
27.) Romans 8:28
28.) Psalm 56:8