Christ in the Scriptures Colossians

To God all glory, honor and praise!

When a flashlight grows dim or quits working, do you just throw it away? Of course not. You change the batteries.

When a person messes up or finds themselves in a dark place, do you cast them aside? Of course not! You help them change their batteries.

Some need AA… attention and affection;
some need AAA… attention, affection, and acceptance;
some need C… compassion;
some need D… direction.
And if they still don’t seem to shine…
simply sit with them quietly and share your light. 

(Rachel Dansby Freeman)

Colossians is the one book in the New Testament that uniquely centers on the cosmic Christ—“the head of all principality and power” (2:10). Paul wants us to know that in Jesus we see the face of God: “He is the image of the invisible God” (1:15). As such, Jesus’ divine nature and incarnation are celebrated as watershed realities. This image of the invisible God is the Author of reconciliation (1:20–22; 2:13–15) and our Redeemer and Reconciler (2:11–15, 20–22). Because of those facts, it only stands to reason that He is the basis for all believers’ hope (1:5, 23, 27). The NKJV Study Bible

“and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Paul illustrates the adequacy of Christ by demonstrating how the Colossian believers are complete. In Christ, the Colossians have put off the power of sin and the flesh, have received new life, have been forgiven, have been delivered from requirements laid down by human traditions, and have been freed from the powers of spirit beings. There is nothing that the Christian needs to add to what was received in Christ at the time of conversion. Paul emphasizes the sufficiency of Christ in order to refute the Gnostics and the Judaizers who respectively believed that special knowledge or works were necessary to make a Christian complete.

“ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Firstborn could denote a priority in time or in rank. The word does not describe Christ as the first being created in time because the hymn proclaims that all things were “created by Him” and that “He is before all things.” Jesus is the eternal One who was before all creation. The idea of firstborn in the Hebrew culture did not require that one be the first son born. This was not the case with either Isaac or Jacob. But they were the firstborn in the sense that they were rightful heirs to the line of their fathers. Being firstborn referred more to rank and privilege than to order of birth. Since Christ is God, He is supreme in rank over all creation. Yet He is not only the transcendent deity who created us; He is the One who died on our behalf and was subsequently raised from dead. Thus He is also the firstborn from the dead. The first One who experienced the true resurrection.

"This image of the invisible God is the Author of reconciliation”

Since believers have been released from ritualistic observances why should they let others bind them down again? No human work can be added to the merit of Christ’s death. His work on the Cross is the only acceptable work in God’s eyes. The legalistic commands of others are a self-imposed religion and are of no value for salvation.

Not only were our personal sins forgiven at the Cross, but those rules that condemned us have also been removed by the death of Christ. Principalities and powers allude to Satan and the fallen angels. Paul is describing Christ’s victory on the Cross over the powers that opposed Him and that were against God’s faithful people. Satan and his forces thought the Cross would be their victory and Christ’s defeat. In reality, at the Cross the Lord vanquished His foes, took away their weapons, and made a public spectacle of them.

“and our Redeemer and Reconciler”

 Whereas all Jewish males were required to receive physical circumcision, the circumcision that is from Christ is without hands. Rather than the mere removal of flesh, Christian circumcision is the spiritual removal of sin from the heart, taking part in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. 

Baptism is the symbol of the believer’s association with Christ’s death on the Cross. Water baptism itself does not bring forgiveness of sins, but Paul uses the rite to help explain the work of the Spirit. The early church would never have understood the idea of an unbaptized Christian. Baptism and faith were considered to be the outward and inward realities of being a Christian. Some have highlighted Paul’s close association of baptism and circumcision in this passage as an indication that water baptism is a sign of the New Covenant, just as circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant.

“He is the basis for all believers’ hope”

The Colossians’ faith was grounded in the nature and work of Jesus Christ. Love flows from faith and proves the genuineness of one’s faith. The Colossians’ sacrificial love for all the saints proved their true belief in Christ.

The perseverance of the Colossians was proof of the reconciling work of Christ on their behalf. Paul uses this exaggeration “every creature under heaven” to illustrate the rapid spread of the gospel. The apostles are said to have turned the world upside down, even though their ministry up to that point had been limited to a small portion of the eastern Mediterranean region.

In Greek pagan religions, a mystery was a secret teaching reserved for a few spiritual teachers who had been initiated into an inner circle. Paul uses the word to refer to knowledge that had been hidden from ages and from generations, but was now being revealed by God. The Lord had revealed this mystery to Paul and called him to be a steward of it. 

The mystery is that Christ now lives within Gentile believers: Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is in harmony with Ephesians. In that letter, Paul states that the mystery is the union of Jews and Gentiles in one body, Christ’s church.  The NKJV Study Bible

Psalm 89:27 Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Philippians 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: