By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical & Religious Studies, Samford University
JESUS MATTERS
Colossians 1:15–22
When he died in 2021 at the age of 100, the academic and statesman George Shultz brought to a close an astonishing record of public service. It was in his role as secretary of state that Shultz had the task of commissioning various men and women to serve as ambassadors to foreign countries.
Prior to their departure, Shultz would hold a brief meeting with the ambassadors where he would spin a large globe and instruct the new appointees to point to their country. Each one would dutifully point to his or her new post only to be corrected by Shultz, who would point to the United States and remind them, “No, this is your country.” Shultz’s point, of course, was to charge the new ambassadors to never forget which country they were truly serving.
As Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he is eager to make a similar point to his own readers. Amid the various strains of religious thought, the apostle wants to remind the Colossian believers that they are first and foremost servants of Jesus the Christ.
Jesus is the Creator of all things. (15–17)
The first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians contains one of the longest rehearsals of Christ’s attributes in all of the New Testament.
Paul begins by emphasizing Jesus’ role as creator. He notes that “everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth,” and he insists that Christ’s role as creator is inextricably tied to His role as ruler. As the “firstborn over all creation,” He rules over creation as the Father’s regent. He is “before all things,” and as the one who sustains creation, “by Him all things hold together.”
Jesus is the Ruler over all things. (18–20)
Christ’s rule over creation is mirrored in His rule over the Church. Paul describes Jesus as “the head of the body, the Church,” and he goes on to identify the twin elements that make Christ’s headship over the Church a reality. On one hand, there is the Incarnation. “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,” Paul proclaimed.
On the other hand, there is the Resurrection. Paul describes Jesus as “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,” and he insists that it is Christ’s defeat of death that ensures that He might “have first place in everything.” Jesus took on the travails of a human life, and as God raised Him from the dead, the Father announced His approval of Jesus’ great sacrifice.
Jesus is the Reconciler of all things. (21–22)
Perhaps most important from our perspective is that Jesus’ roles as creator and ruler are wedded to His role as reconciler. When Paul notes that all of the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus, he is careful to specify that the incarnation occurred in order that “through Him” He might “reconcile everything to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”
This is a message that should have been particularly relevant for the Gentile believers at Colossae. Separated as they were from God’s covenants with Israel, these former pagans had been “alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.”
But now, Jesus the Creator has taken on the role of Christ the Incarnate, Christ the suffering Servant and finally, Christ the resurrected One. Through His incarnation, death and resurrection, Christ paved the way for even Gentiles to find salvation.
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