COLOSSIANS: STABILITY BY CHRIST'S ALL-SUFFICIENCY AND SUPREMACY

Part VI: The Believer's Stability In Christ's Comprehensive Supremacy

(Colossians 1:15-20)

I. Introduction

A. Today's unsettling, insecure world has led many believers to become unsettled and insecure, so in contrast to today's world, we believers need to focus on the stability and security we have in our Lord.

B. The Colossian epistle presents Christ's all-sufficiency and supremacy in ways that settle and provide security, and one way it does is by teaching us of the believer's stability in Christ's comprehensive supremacy.

C. Colossians 1:15-20 teaches this provision, and we view it for our insight and stability in living (as follows):

II. The Believer's Stability In Christ's Comprehensive Supremacy, Colossians 1:15-20.

A. The believer enjoys absolute divine stability in Christ because He is "'the exact representation of [the Father's] being' (Heb. 1:3)," Col. 1:15a; B. K. C., N. T., p. 672. He is the "image of the invisible God," meaning, "Like the head of a sovereign imprinted on a coin, Christ" exactly represents the Father's being, Ibid.!

B. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence since Christ preceded the whole Creation and is Sovereign over it all, applied to the believer and the whole universe in which he exists, Col. 1:15b:

1. Though some cults translate Colossians 1:15b to make Christ be the "'Firstborn in Creation'" as a created being, the "Firstborn over all Creation" is the preferred translation, for (a) the Colossians 1:16-20 context reveals His superiority over all things, (b) it is illogical that Christ could create Himself as John 1:3 claims He created all that was ever made (Ibid.) and (c) if Christ were the first one created, the Greek term would be protoktisis, ""first-created,'" not prototokos, "'Firstborn'" as it is in Colossians 1:15b, Ibid., p. 672-673.

2. "'Firstborn'" means Christ "preceded the whole Creation and He is Sovereign over" it all, Ibid., p. 673.

3. Thus, the believer himself along with all that exists around him in the universe was both preceded by Christ in time and is under His sovereign control, providing infinite security for the believer's existence!

C. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence since Christ also created all things, be they in heaven or on earth, visible or invisible, including thrones, dominions, principalities or powers of the material realm of human beings of the unseen spiritual realm of human or angelic or even demonic spirits, Col. 1:16a.

D. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence since Christ created all things for Himself (Colossians 1:16b), so the believer's existence is totally stable in its meeting of Christ's interests for him!

E. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence since Christ came before all things in time (pro, Henry Alford, The Greek Testament Vol. III, 1854, p. 194), being the Creator, so that no event or party in any event in history can function in any way to disrupt Christ's interests in a given believer's existence, Col. 1:17a.

F. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence since by Christ all things in the created universe hold together, Christ being "the constituting or conserving Cause," Col. 1:17b; Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 673.

G. The believer enjoys stability in God's plan for his existence in his relationships in the Church, for Christ is its Head, its Beginning and Firstborn from the dead in His resurrection, that He might have the preeminence in the Church, Col. 1:18. In other words, the believer can relax in the Church if he yields to God's purpose for his existence there for Christ to exalt Himself through the believer's relationships and functions in the Church!

H. To explain Christ's preeminence in the Church, Colossians 1:19-20 tells of the Father's acts in Christ's life:

1. God the Father was pleased to have all of His own fulness dwell in Christ (Col. 1:19 NIV), what constitutes "one of the most powerful descriptions of Christ's deity in the New Testament," Ibid.

2. Thus, having made peace through the blood of Christ's death on the cross, God will reconcile all things to Himself, be they good angels or redeemed people who are on earth or in heaven, Col. 1:20; Ibid., p. 674.

3. In other words, God will make peace through the blood of Christ so that those of us humans who were once His enemies will become, by faith, His friends and children, Ephesians 2:11-19; Ibid.

Lesson: The believer enjoys infinite stability in Christ since He is the perfect representation of God the Father, He preceded the whole Creation and is its complete Sovereign, He created all things, and He did so for Himself, He is before all things in time and He holds all things together as their conserving Cause, He is the Head, Beginning and Firstborn from the dead in relation to the Church due to the Father's will to make Him have the Father's own fulness dwell in Christ so as to reconcile all good angels and redeemed people to Himself by the cross. The believer should then relax in the infinite stability he has in His comprehensively sovereign Lord, and live for Him!

Application: May we focus on heeding our Savior to enjoy His completely stable blessing in our very existence!