Colossians 1:15-29 - The Divine Head of the Church

Colossians 1:15-29

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Reconciled in Christ

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Sacrificial Service for Christ

24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

This look at the Head of the church begins with who Christ Jesus is.  He is God, divine and always existing, the creator of heaven and earth as the living Word (John 1:1-2).  He is no mere created man like we are nor an angel since they were also created through Him and not alongside as equals, for no created being is equal to the divine Lord.  Not only did the Son of God create everything and everyone, He hold all things together as described by the mysterious van der Waals force that is used to describe how atoms inexplicably hold together without flying apart.  Everything in the universe down to the smallest atom and to the largest galaxy is held together in and by Him!  That is the divine power of the Son of God.  This almighty one is the head of the church who is the body and bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He even was the first to die and rise again to be the forerunner for us to follow to reveal Himself as the leader who authors our faith (Hebrews 5:9, 12:2) and guarantees our eternal life after a bodily resurrection from death to life which we experience in part already as life to death had taken place in our souls (John 5:24) now.  He did this delivering work for us by sacrificing Himself on the wooden cross as the eternal Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) whose lifeblood poured out in our place for our just due saves us from eternal judgment of the destroyer who punishes sin, just as the foreshadowing of the sacrificial lamb covered the wooden doorposts of the Israelites as they were delivered in Egypt out of the bondage (Micah 6:4, Romans 6:6, 17, 22-23) of slavery symbolizing sin’s death grip on all Adam’s (Romans 5:12, 18) descendants.  This is the reconciliation with God the Father through God the Son worked by the faith given us by God the Spirit.  Once the enemies of God because of our inherited and ongoing sin, now in Christ we can be made right with God as reconciled sons and daughters of the Most-High God!  This is the work of God in Christ and not anything we could possibly do that would be sufficient to earn this grace in which we stand before God’s judgment throne where we are seen in the righteousness of Christ and not our own.  He calls and makes we His children holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight if we truly come to believe and receive the Son and His work for us and are then transformed by Him into this standing.  This means God sees the holiness of Jesus when looking at us, He sees us as innocent of our forgiven sins in Him, and He sees us as ones who cannot be called into to account for our sin, not able to be accused (Revelation 12:10) anymore by our adversary, blameless in God’s sight when we are seen in Christ!  This is the mystery from the beginning of time, revealed to we who are called out in Christ as the glorious mystery is unveiled to us which is the hope of glory, Christ now living in us because we are now found in His righteousness!  This is the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:24) we present in the gospel for all who have ears to hear the deliverance bought for them and who perfects (Philippians 1:6) us in sanctification until His return.  We bear witness of God’s work in Christ by His powerful working in and through us as we labor to serve in this great commission (Matthew 28:19-20) entrusted to each one of His children.  He alone is the divine head of the true church, not any man or institution, whom we follow.