Christ Alone: The Heartbeat of Colossians

Colossians is a book I had to sit on for a few days. At first, I questioned if I would write a post at all. But after reading it a second time and reflecting on it more deeply, I found the primary teachings of Paul to be pivotal for Christians.

Context

Colossians was written by Paul between 60 and 63 AD. To put it into perspective, this book was written about 30 years after Jesus' crucifixion. The early church was still new and greatly suseptible to false teachings. Truthfully, the church today is still suseptible to false teachings, which is why reading the Bible is so important. The truth resides in God's Word.

Paul is one of the most influential figures in the New Testament. He wrote 13 letters in the New Testament. Colossians is one of them and is actually the first letter of Paul I've read in entirety. His letters cover topics such as: salvation by grace through faith, life in the Spirit, Christian unity, marriage and family, spiritual gifts, church leadership, the nature of Christ, and the meaning of the gospel. His writings shaped Christian theology more than any other apostle. But before Paul was an apostle, a follower of Jesus and teacher of His ways, He was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians.

It is worth noting that the Pharisees were not unbelievers. They truly believed they were doing the Lord's work by crucifying Jesus, persecuting Christians, and trying to destroy the early church. They were misguided religious zealots who did not have true relationship with the Lord. They followed the letter of the Law but did not know the heart of God. They rejected Jesus as the Son of God and resisted the work of the Holy Spirit. Their devotion was to rules and tradition and it blinded them to the very Messiah they had been waiting for.

Jesus revealed Himself to Paul and Paul was changed forever. The story of Paul reveals two great truths. The first, no matter how dark our past is, Jesus can still use us, still redeem us, still call us to incredible purpose. The second, the Lord calls us to specific missions and He qualifies the called. Our past does not disqualify us from the kingdom of God or spreading God's Word hear on earth. Our past makes our testimony and spiritual transformation that much more powerful and impactful.

If you can relate to Paul, you're in good company and there's a brighter, more purpose-filled future for you through acceptance of Jesus Christ.

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The Superiority of Christ

Paul spends most of Colossians reminding believers of the superiority of Christ as false teachings that deny Christ's power and superiority rise. Paul specifically speaks on wisdom and knowledge coming only from God, because the false teachers--gnostics--promoted a belief that knowledge of God is the key to salvation (not Jesus Christ) and that they had this secret knowledge to share. Paul states God is the revealer of knowledge and wisdom through the Holy Spirit. Knowledge and wisdom are gifts from God, but not the key to salvation.

"...you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1: 9-14

• All wisdom and spiritual understanding come from God by His will. God desires to share His wisdom and understanding with us. His wisdom and understanding is transformative. We need only to seek Him in faith.

• The Lord's wisdom and understanding, granted to us through His Holy Spirit, is what equips us to walk in holiness, fully pleasing Him.

• The calling comes before the equipping. God calls us home through Jesus. We first accept Jesus as Savior and the sacrifice for our sins. Then, God fills us with His Holy Spirit and begins the process of qualification or refininment. Through this process, we are granted wisdom and understanding and more fruits of the Spirit that equip us to walk in His ways and purposes and please Him.

• We cannot please God or walk in His ways without God, without the knowledge that comes only from Him / His Spirit.

• What the false teachers were promoting was not only false doctrine but was demonic deception rather than divine revelation. We are warned against earthly wisdom / demonic wisdom in James for demonic wisdom is not wisdom at all.

  
  

"But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing is there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." James 3:14-17

• There is a difference between self-seeking and seeking the Lord. The false teachers would have you seek wisdom from sources other than the Lord. Today, this may look like: inner divinity (the power of manifestation), astrology, tarot, secret knowledge spirituality (modern-day gnosticism), etc. The Bible makes it clear there are other powers, other spirits, other knowledge out there. But that is not the power, spirit, or knowledge we are called to seek. That is demonic wisdom and self-seeking. Seeking the Lord is the only path to true wisdom, understanding, and salvation.

• As we seek the Lord, God strengthens our knowledge. He bathes us in His holiness just as Jesus bathes us in His blood.

• Finally, Colossians 1 makes it clear that Jesus is the only one who grants us redemption, forgiveness of sins, is the one who frees us from the power of darkness, and is the one who conveys us into the kingdom of Heaven.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 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." Colossians 1:15-18

• This verse reveals Jesus is God. He is "the image of the invisible God." This is further supported in John 10:30 when Jesus says, "I and the Father are one."

• Jesus is not only the Son, the Savior, the firstborn, the sacrifice, the redeemer. He is the creator.

  
  

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:1-3

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." John 1:14

"He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God." Revelation 19:13

Jesus is the eternal Word, present with God, and fully God. Jesus (the Word) became flesh. Jesus is presented as The Word of God in Revelation.

Jesus Christ is the manifested Word of God. We are called to abide in Him and the way to do that is to abide in His Word: His literal Word, which is the Bible and in the Word who is Jesus Christ. You cannot separate Jesus from His Word, the Bible, for He is the Word.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you..." John 15:4 + 7

• Jesus / God is before all things, all things consist in Him. He has superiority over all things, including darkness and evil. This was important for Paul to preach on because he wanted to remind the church there is no reason to seek any other wisdom or knowledge or power outside of Jesus.

• What's beautiful about Jesus being the first as in firstborn is that it implies He is not the only. We are all God's creations, God's children, and He seeks to reconcile us all to Him.

• Colossians 1:15-18 , accompanied by the listed supporting verses, provides so much clarity on the power of Jesus and even provides insight on the Holy Trinity.

A Note On The Holy Trinity:

The concept of the Holy Trinity has been difficult for me to understand most of my life, but it's finally becoming clearer.

God, The Father, abides in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ abides in Him. "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me." John 14:11 They have given us Their Spirit. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

It is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the door to the Kingdom of Heaven through which only those who abide in Him will pass.

When we accept His Holy Spirit, we abide in Him and He in us (meaning both Jesus Christ and the Father). Jesus is the bridge between us and the Father, between us and Heaven. We are all branches of the same tree. We are tiers of the same cake (:

God's children have not only an incredible inheritance waiting for them, but an incredible mission here on earth. That is why the devil seeks to destroy us and prevent more children of God from waking up to their true identity and calling.

When you look at this drawing below, do you not see how connected we are to God? Do you not see the power and assignment His Holy Spirit grants us. Through Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, we are part of the trinity. We are part of God's holy mission to reconcile all things to Himself.

Now, admittedly, the theology of the Holy Spirit may go deeper than my current understanding. But the idea of us abiding in God/ Jesus and He abiding in us is still true and relevant to our understanding of what it means to be vessels of the Holy Spirit and children of God. We are separate beings filled with the same Spirit and Jesus is the bridge that connects us all.

"For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 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." Colossians 1: 19-20

"And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-- if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard..." Colossians 1:21-23

"...the mystery wihch has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is: Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:26-27

• It is through the blood of Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to the Father.

• God seeks to reconcile all His creations to Him.

• We are living in the days of God's grace not the days of restriction and ritualistic Law as in the Old Testatment. Through the blood of His cross, the mystery of God was revealed to all mankind and so was the mercy, grace, and love of God.

• Our reconciliation to the Lord is not based on performance or perfection. It is based on the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord. We abide in Him and He abides in us.

• We are called to not lose hope or faith in the truth of the gospel, which is the truth of Jesus Christ. For the truth of Jesus is the way to life eternal.

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

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Personal Reflection

It's ironic that my journey through the Bible began with a simple statement: "I want to know the truth for myself."

When I began reading the Bible, I was searching for the truth of what the text said. I didn't understand that what the text said was the Truth of God, the Word of God, or that Jesus was the manifested Word of God. It was never taught to me that way.

The Bible was always presented as this thing that was separate from God. In literary terms, I understood it as having a narrator observing from the outside looking in. I didn't understand the Bible as the Word of God. I viewed it as the Word of Man. I think this is why a lot of people reject the Bible even if they don't reject God / Jesus. They do not view them as one and the same. But when I lived in this rejection, acceptance of God / Jesus but rejection of the Bible, I didn't know God / Jesus.

The Word of God is key to knowledge of God, to relationship with God.

I am still getting to know them. My eyes are still being opened to the truth. My knowledge and understanding are probably infantile compared to what it will be one day. And that's why I'm so passionate about this blog. Every new discovery I make through His Word is amazing to me and I want to share it.

Realizing how truly lost I was, how disconnected from the Lord (the Truth) I was, makes me look back on those years through a lens of emptiness. I was empty, confused, and self-seeking. And I am so thankful that I'm not anymore. I'm filling myself with the Truth for the first time in my life and it is an amazing feeling.

For so long, I was one of those people who believed I was saved, but didn't know the Lord. "Depart from me, I never knew you." Matthew 7:23 This verse reveals how Jesus will reject those who reject Him. As I sit here today, I don't know if I would've gone to Heaven if I would've died two years ago. I really don't. I don't have those answers. Nor do I seek to condemn or confuse anyone else.

What I can say is I didn't know the Lord. I didn't have strong faith. I didn't have a true relationship with Him. I prayed to Him, yes. But I wasn't listening for a response. I wasn't letting Him lead me. I wasn't seeking Him in all things. I wasn't asking for His discernment and wisdom. I was not surrendered to His ways or embodied by His Spirit. Perhaps I was rejecting Him by refusing to read His Word and let Him impart true wisdom, truth, understanding, and His Spirit upon me.

Reading the Bible is changing my life and I feel His Spirit working in me, qualifying me just like His Word promises. Unlike two years ago, today I can say, I know I am saved. I know His Spirit lives inside me. I am a child of God, a daughter of the King. I will recognize Him when I meet Him. And, for that, I am so grateful. But I am also eager to learn more. I am eager to increase my knowledge and understanding of the Lord. I want to know Him more. I want to have a million and one things to talk about when I see Him. If you know me personally, you know I love to talk. (:

Relationships are built on mutual understanding of one another. I was taught to believe that God knows me, even down to the number of hairs on my head. Because of this, I didn't feel the conviction of "I never knew you." But the truth is, we must know Him too. We must seek relationship with Him too. No healthy or fulfilling relationship is one-sided. How do we get to know Him? Through His Word.

No matter who you are or where you are, I pray you get into His Word. Opening your Bible is like opening a door to relationship with the Lord. He's there waiting for you with His hand outstretched, ready to guide you to new discoveries.