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Colossians 1:15-23
The Supremacy of the Christ
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
We have now begun a new letter from Paul as the source of our epistle readings, and as is our custom, we pause to think about this letter in general. The new letter is Colossians, which has traditionally been understood as letter from the apostle Paul to the Christians in the Greek city of Colossae. It’s worth noting that the Bible scholars question whether this letter was written by Paul himself, or by someone who had been influenced by his teaching. Nothing about the letter contradicts Paul, but the style of the writing and of the argument make the scholars wonder.
Two important things need to be said about the letter to the Colossians. The first is that much of the letter is given over to arguing against some alternative form of teaching that had been introduced into the community after Paul’s departure. The scholars aren’t certain exactly what this alternative teaching was, but the leading theory seems to be that it was some combination of Jewish mysticism and the ancient philosophy called Gnosticism. Whatever it was, the author of Colossians was deeply concerned that it might confuse and mislead the Christians in that city. So he spends a good deal of the letter urging his readers to stick faithfully to the teaching they had received from Paul about Jesus and his sacrifice for our salvation.
The second important thing about the letter to the Colossians Is that it is one of the most ‘christological’ of all the letters attributed to the apostle Paul. By that we mean a good deal of the letter is given over to reflecting on the character of Jesus and his role in the creation of the universe and in salvation history.
That obviously makes it an important letter. Since we consider ourselves followers of Jesus, it’s important that we think about what it is we believe about him. It’s probably true that lots of us, if we’re asked what we believe about him, would say that Jesus is the Son of God. But that’s obviously a metaphor — Jesus isn’t the son of God in the same way a human male is the son of his father. And if you questioned the average Christian any further, if you ask what we mean by Jesus being the son of God, lots of Christians would probably struggle to say more clearly what it is we believe about Jesus.
Of course, whether or not we can explain it clearly, all of us who follow Jesus have a set of beliefs about Jesus – a Christology of our own. We’ve assembled this set of beliefs over a lifetime of Sunday School classes, worship services, devotional readings, Bible studies and conversations. With a few movies and TV shows thrown in there to round things out.
But that can be a little bit of a hodge-podge – more a collection of impressions than something we could clearly express to others. And some people who call themselves Christians have a Christology that’s warped to the point of being wrong. Some parts of the church portray Jesus as a kind of heavenly action hero who’s going to come back and smash down his enemies, a portrayal that’s hard to reconcile with the “suffering servant” who washed the feet of others. And some parts of the church have such reverence for Mary that they teach that Jesus is an angry judge who can only be safely approached through his mom.
But today’s reading from the first chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Colossians can help. In this passage, Paul sets out a really helpful short summary of Christology. He summarizes who Jesus was and is, and explains his role in salvation history.
Before we get to that, we should mention that the New Testament scholars say that the first six verses of the passage seem to be an excerpt from a hymn that the first generation of Christians sang in worship. It tells us what they had come to understand about Jesus. In fact, some of the believers who sang that hymn would have been alive when Jesus walked the earth – some might even have met him personally. So this passage expresses some of the church’s first insights about who Jesus was and is.
It’s also worth noting that this ancient hymn contains expressions from the ancient Hebrew tradition and also from the Greek world. So this passage helps to illustrate that from the earliest days of the church, its beliefs included ideas from both the Hebrew and Greek worlds.
From the Hebrews, this ancient hymn borrows language from the Hebrew wisdom tradition – a part of Hebrew thought that said divine wisdom was a manifestation of God’s presence in the world. It also borrows language from Greek philosophy. Like the introduction to the Gospel of John, this hymn says that there’s a divine principle at the heart of creation. It says that Jesus is that divine principle, and that everything was created and ordered around him.
The passage also expresses some other points that have become central beliefs in our Christology. For instance, it says that Jesus is the closest humankind will ever come to seeing God in person. God is invisible, but Jesus makes that invisible God visible in human form.
It also repeats another point from the introduction to the Gospel of John: that Jesus was present before time began, and that he participated in creation. We understand that Jesus has always been a part of the Trinity with God the Father. Jesus took part in the creation of the universe, and his influence continues to hold it together.
The passage also says that Jesus is “the firstborn.” That’s true in two senses. First, he has a special and unique relationship with God like any firstborn son did in the ancient world. But second, Jesus was the “firstborn of the dead” in the sense that he was the first to experience resurrection. And those who follow Jesus will follow him in being born from the dead to eternal life.
Finally, this ancient hymn expresses the central belief of our faith – that by the death of Jesus on the cross, God reconciled us to himself – God has ‘made peace’ with humankind. And this passage suggests that Jesus’ death paved the path for God to make peace with “all things.” When God’s reign comes to fulfillment, all of creation will be set right because of what God did in Jesus on the cross.
This is such an important passage that whenever it comes up in the lectionary, I recommend that you leave it in your inbox for a day or two and maybe go back and read it a couple more times – not my reflections about it, just the passage itself. That might help you frame your thoughts about Jesus for the next time someone asks you what you believe about him.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for speaking into the world through your servant Paul, and we thank you that you are still speaking into our lives through the letters he left behind. Open our hearts to think more deeply about who Jesus was and is, and about his role as the turning point in human history. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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