TEACHING ON COLOSSIANS 1:15-20

 

Last week we began our series on the letter of Paul the Apostle to the Church in Colossae. Colossae was a city in what is now Western Turkey and within that city there was now a small group of a new cult,  or religion, that was called Christian. I have tried to emphasize, and will do again now,  that as we read this letter we need to remember that there is no history of Christianity – no church buildings, no Christian ethical or moral teaching,  no Popes or Bishops, no Christian literature. In essence, we are looking at the very birth of the Church,.. the Christian faith… and Christian values and way of life.

 

We also need to remember that this new cult, or religion, is being born in the powerful empire of Rome. And at this time we enter into a meeting of the Greek, the Roman and the Jewish cultures. There are great thinkers and many gods and many religions. A new faith, or cult, was not something unusual. What was unusual about this new faith was its message,  called the gospel.

 

When we read these early letters of Paul,  we step into this world, and we see how radical,  how crazy, how mysterious, how incredible.. the claims of this new religion were. Again, we are so used to hearing the words of our faith that we are always in danger of losing their meaning and power and mystery.

 

As we read further in the book,  we will see that Paul has an agenda in mind in writing this letter. It seems as if these early Christians,  just as we today,  are being confronted with different philosophies and ideas as to what being spiritual really is. Scholars are not exactly too sure what the teachings were that were invading this new little Christian community,  but as we read we will see Paul call this, or these, teachings “philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition…”..He is afraid that these early Christians will be deceived with what he calls “plausible arguments.”  He will attack these teachings which call upon them to eat certain foods and certain festivals. It may be also that there was some influence of new Jewish Christians saying that they should be keeping the law of Moses. It may be that these teachings were a mixture of different religions.

 

But whatever these teachings were,  Paul in this letter sets forth Jesus Christ and the “word of truth”,  or the gospel, as being superior to any other religion or teaching which they are facing. He says in chapter 2 that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

 

In the passage that we are looking at this morning, if we step back and really hear the words of Paul,  we will have to again be amazed, astounded, and maybe incredulous and unbelieving,  because what he is saying is just as incredible and hard to believe as it was in those very first days. 

 

Now lets slowly read through these 6 verses and see if we can catch a glimpse of how mysterious our Christian faith really is. And as I studied them this week, I have to say that even the scholars realize that what is being said here is not easy to grasp or understand. In truth,  in this passage we face the tremendous mystery of the Christian faith.

 

 

 

Verse 15 begins : He is the image of the invisible God,

 

The Greek word for image is “ikon”.  In the Christian faith,  the unknowable, the “wholly other” God,  the hidden God,  the ground of all being,  the God shrouded in mystery,  the unseen and invisible God,  has been made known to humanity through Jesus. John 1:18 says:

John 1:18 ( NRSV ) No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

 

In John chapter 14 we read:

 

John 14:8-10 ( NRSV ) Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9esus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

 

It is critically important for us to understand that the Christian faith does not believe in an abstract God,  or force, or power. The God we believe in is known,  seen, understood, and experienced through Jesus. If we have seen him,  we have seen the Father.

 

(He is) The firstborn of all creation

 

This is a tricky concept, one not agreed upon by scholars. The question is, what does firstborn mean,  if as our faith says, Jesus is one in being with the Father and the Spirit. In a Hebrew sense, it could mean that as the first born, Jesus is the ruler and governor over all creation.  As my friend Ed Mastumoto told us,  when we asked how come his mother and sister served him as if was a lord,  he told us: “I am the number one son..In Japanese culture, the number one son is very important!.. Anyway, this is not an easy phrase to understand.

 

 

16   for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.

 

 

In this verse we see again an echo of John, or we might say in John we find an echo of this verse.

 

John 1:1-2 ( NRSV ) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 

 

In Hebrews we also read this;

 

Hebrews 1:2-3 ( NRSV ) but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.  He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word…..

 

 

In these passages we see the early Christian belief that Jesus was not just a great teacher, or leader,  or even a lesser god than the true God. Jesus is claimed to be the creator of all that exists,  seen and unseen.  And Paul, to stress, I believe,  the superiority of Jesus over any other gods or any other way to interpret Jesus, states that every being,  even in the spiritual realm,  was created by Christ. Here he seems to have in mind other teachings that might relegate Jesus to one of many gods, or spirits. No, Paul states, there is nothing that exists was not created by Christ, and therefore He is above all and is the only one worthy of worship.  Apparently they were being told that there were angels that were worthy of being worshipped (2:18).

 

 17He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

 

As creator, Jesus exists before matter, or the material realm, or the universe. He is before all things. I know that it can be hard to believe in an eternal God, with no beginning or end. So as a child many of us asked,  who created God,  because our minds cannot conceive of something existing forever. But it is just as hard for me to believe that matter has existed forever.  If there is no God,  where does matter come from? How does it exist forever? How does it exist without a creator?

 

Paul argues here that not only is he the creator,  but that he holds all things together. The image we get here is that if Christ does not continue to exercise His power, the universe would implode. We sense here that there is an ongoing power which keeps the universe in existence. That power is Christ.

 

 18He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 

 

 

I used to wonder why this statement that Jesus is the head of the body, the church was inserted as this point. Of course I can’t really know why, but again imagine a small group of people sitting around in a living room.. maybe 20 or 30, hearing this passage read, and this verse. What incredible comfort this verse would bring. The creator and sustainer of all is the one who is starting this church. The one we worship is the same one who created all things, and there is no power greater than He.. not Caesar,  not the city rulers, not any other god of any other religion… No,  the head of this new group,  this church,  is none other than the creator of all. This would give a person considerable courage and faith if they really believed it.

 

It reminds me of the saying of Jesus when he said:

 


Matthew 10:28 ( NRSV ) 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

Since also Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead”.. even death itself is not to be feared. He is over all powers of the spirit world… the human world.. and even death itself.  So have faith and trust, and fear nothing,  for the one you serve has you in his hands.

 

 

19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

 

Here again is the echo of Jesus being the ikon of God,  the one who reveals to humanity the character of God.

 

 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 

This verse is loaded with content. If you want to be a universalist Christian, one who believes both in Jesus and that all of humanity is saved,  this is one verse you can quote. It says that “all things”  are reconciled.. brought into a friendly relationship with, God,  through what Jesus has done on the cross. There is a universalism that pays no attention to Jesus or sees any meaning in the cross of Jesus other than sacrificial love,  but there is also one which does not do away with the blood of the cross. Anyway,  this verse proclaims Jesus and the cross as central to the plan of God in making things right between earth and heaven and God.  Again, it is an incredible statement,  for it states that the work of the cross transcends the realm of human existence and even affects the heavens, or the spiritual realm.

 

Well, we are at the end of this section. Next week Pastor Liz will look at verses 21 -23.

 

Time permitting, I want to end with a quote: It reflects the, what I will call old fashioned piety of many different types of Christians down through the ages, one which still attracts my soul.

 

Are we not entranced with the dignity of our Redeemer, and are we not amazed at His condescension and love? That the creator and upholder of the universe should come down to such a world as this, and clothe Himself in the inferior nature of its race, and in that nature die to forgive and save it, is the most amazing of revelations. Dare we lift our hearts to contemplate and credit it? And yet it is truth, most glorious truth,  truth sealed with the blood of Calvary. What sublimity is shed around the gospel? The God of the first chapter of Genesis is the babe of the first chapter of Matthew. He whom Isaiah depicts as “the Lord God, the creator of the ends of the earth,”  “who hath measured as the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span,” is the Christ crucified of evangelical story and apostolic preaching. He who, in the pages of Jeremiah, is “the true God, the living God, and an everlasting king,” is in the pages of John the Word made flesh – the weeping Jesus – the master girded with a towel and washing His disciples feet – the sufferer crowned with  thorns and nailed in nakedness to the cross. He who is depicted in Ezekiel as seated on the sapphire throne, with the rainbow for its canopy, and the cherubim for its bearers and guardians, is none other that He whose garments were divided by His executioners, yea, whose corpse was pierced by the barbarous arm of a Roman soldier, and probed to the very heart to prove the reality of His death…..What faith in power and extent should not be reposed in such a Savior-God!

 

Taken from a commentary on Colossians written by  the Scottish Presbyterian New Testament scholar John Eadie (1810-1872). Pg. 60