Remembering First Things: The Supremacy of Christ
Our series on First Things reminds me that occasionally believers may find ourselves checking off a list of church obligations, speaking the vocabulary of the Christian community, returning to the performance of devotion that we may have dutifully practiced for decades – but without the same delight it once gave us. It feels useful in those times to go back – far back – to recall who Christ is.
There are many places to go in scripture when seeking to reaffirm our belief and practice of faith. When I need to be reminded, I go to Colossians 1:15f, where Paul speaks compellingly about Christ’s supremacy and his authority to command influence in our lives. I frequently read this passage during our communion service, as a reminder of why we gather on Sundays in his honor. Here are some thoughts from the passage as translated in the ESV:
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The incarnate Christ’s behavior and attributes reflect the very essence of God. In calling him “firstborn,” Paul is not suggesting that Christ was created – but that he is preeminent. It’s a word indicating rank; Jesus was born to lead. Born to inherit.
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.
Let’s rewind back to before linear time. Christ participated in creating the visible universe: gravity, the cell, and the seasons; the koala bear, the solar system, and the water cycle. He somehow enables and endorses the concept of governance, and reigns over all other powers that exist in the universe. He has ultimate authority over mysterious realms that exist outside our created universe – ones we cannot see or understand. And all of it was created to serve him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
This is my favorite. He not only preexisted everything we see, but the universe holds together in this very moment only because he assents for it to do so. The laws of physics continue to function because he gives them the nod. Each successive day occurs with his permission.
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.
He is credible as ruler over the body of believers because his resurrection victory over sin and death redeemed us, giving him first place.He bought us. We are his.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.
In accord with the good pleasure of God, Christ came as the perfect embodiment of the Father’s holiness, justice, love, goodness, wisdom, mercy, and divine will, sent in the fullness of time.
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus is described as redeemer “before the foundation of the world.” (1 Peter 1:19-20, Eph. 1:4-5, Rev. 13:8, 2 Tim. 1:9) Before there was an Eden, before there was sin on earth, Jesus was redeemer. His crucifixion wasn’t some emergency patch on an unexpectedly spoiled world. Before creation, God knew his greatest glory would be served by redeeming a people for himself. Christ appeared as one of us, with the divine knowledge of God’s perfect plan but the human choice to sacrifice himself as his end game, bridging the impossible gulf between heaven and fallen humanity. His sacrifice allows me, hopeless to make things right with God on my own, to approach him as one worthy to be welcomed home. What a great savior we serve.
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—
So my doing or lack of doing, or my inability to control my selfish thoughts and impulses, are no longer the governing facts in my case before God. I no longer live in the era where I am judged by my inability to measure up to the standard. Christ has mended the jagged tear between me and God. His sacrifice allows imperfect believers to be viewed as holy, blameless, and “above reproach.” Satan, the Great Accuser, can bring no charge against God’s redeemed.
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
Such a powerful thing, isn’t it? Blameless, as long as we hold, obediently, to our faith in his work on our behalf, and don’t replace him with some lesser god. Our confidence must be in him. Not in our ability to now live a perfect life, although the Holy Spirit works to transform us into the likeness of his holiness. But our hope must be built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and the righteousness it imparts.
Evidence that the world is corrupted by dark influences is all around us. The presence of “the roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour,” is palpable. If you occasionally feel your participation in the logistics of the local church’s work is an impotent response to it all, Paul reminds you that 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
We may still live in it, friends, but we are no longer of it. Praise be to God, we are citizens of the kingdom. Let’s celebrate.
-Patti Summers