COLOSSIANS 1:15-23
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
An offensive idea
The idea of a narrow minded God disturbs, even angers, many minds. Yet, the three most influential religions of the world – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – all insist on this understanding of God. While many want to nullify this reality, an honest reading of the sacred writings in all three religions deny the notion that God has established many paths to himself.
Respecting the sacred texts demands that we accept their teaching. The Koran insists that God has ultimately revealed himself and provided salvation for humanity through Mohammed; the Torah, through the Mosaic Law; the New Testament, through Jesus Christ. The texts call me to decide which person I will follow and proclaim to the world that it is the singular path God has established.
Of the three religions Christianity is aggravatingly unique. Both Judaism and Islam teach that God chose a prophet (or prophets) through which he revealed himself. Christianity, on the other hand, insists that God himself came into the world! This makes it doubly difficult to transform it into “one-of-many” paths. If the one who created everything and holds it all together comes, why bother with anyone else!?
Christ of Creation, I reaffirm my sole allegiance to you. Though many will find it insulting, I will offer you as the singular hope of the world. Grant that my offer not be offensive, not even coercive. May the only offence others take be in Christ, the one who reconciles all things to God. – Mike Leamon
Visible Invisibility
Who is Jesus? People have tried to find the answer to this question for centuries. Entire careers have been dedicated to searching out the answer. Societies have formed, papers have been written and wars have been fought over the answer to this question.
Paul had no doubt. Using the words of what had become a hymn for the early church, a creedal statement about the nature and character of the one called Jesus, Paul opens his letter to the Colossians with a description of Christ. There is much to unpack in these verses about the nature of Christ. So much the church later (in the year 325) took this material and made an official creed called the Nicene Creed reflecting the core of Colossians 1.
Creeds are important and the Biblical message stands as our final authority on Christ, but they alone do not make Jesus, Christ to me. Until I wrestle with the question “Who is Jesus?” I am outside of relationship with God. Until I confess, “Jesus is Lord,” and apply the reconciliation of his blood to my life, Christ stands outside of my recognition.
Only in relationship to God through Christ does Jesus become visible to me. Until I am drawn by the Holy Spirit into the grace of God, Christ is invisible. Once I am awakened to the identity of Jesus through the gift of grace, then Christ becomes visible in me.
Jesus, your glory, love, grace, and humility amaze me. I will never fully understand all that you surrendered to restore my broken relationship with God. I thank you for your love and pray you would become more visible in me each day. – Dan Jones
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