Welcome
Prayer
Week Five of the Quarantine.
Colossians 1:14-
Milk
Taped April 21st
Aired April 26th
So let’s read through our text together and get into some wonderful descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ beginning in verse 14 where Paul, speaking of Jesus says:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by 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 might have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
So let’s jump back to verse 13 from last week where Paul wrote the following, which we covered, saying and speaking of God the Father, says
13 He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
Up until this point Paul has been describing the work of the Father, but here and upon mentioning the fact that God has transferred us into the Kingdom of His Son, he begins now to describe the Son to us. And he describes just one – and important one, but just one of the things we have in and through Christ, saying:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Right off the bat we have a difference in translation between the majority text (which are older and more numerous) and the Authorized or Received text and that is the majority text translations to not include the words “through His blood.”
Now, when we look at this fact the cries from the King James Onliest’s are that the
“modern translations” are trying to remove “the Blood of Jesus” from the Bible, and they use this as one of the examples.
I would suggest that the Byzatine texts were added onto in the compilation of the Received or Authorized or King James and instead chose to bath the New Testament in His blood rather than allowing what was written by Paul to remain written.
Why do I say this?
This section “by the blood of Jesus” simply does not exist in the earliest manuscripts.
Scholars show that it is missing not only in the Alexandrian manuscripts, such as A and B, but from the majority of Greek manuscripts, including the majority of the Byzantine tradition.
According to the information cited by the UBS 4th Greek text, the earliest Greek manuscript to contain these words are from the ninth century, and the earliest Church “father” to cite it with these words is from the late fourth century.”
I would suggest that the Byzantine text (which is the foundation for the Textus Receptus and the KJV translation) somewhere down the line probably lifted this expression from Ephesians 1:7, where we Paul is quoted as saying EVEN IN THE MODERN VERSIONS:
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
If modern translations are trying to eliminate the blood of Christ from the Bible, then why does Ephesians 1:7 retain these words?
However, the added words from Ephesians to Colossians 1:14 are true, so let’s discuss them.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
This line describes our being released from the payment of a ransom, as in the case of a slave or debtor.
The debt for such being paid in full for all according to scripture, and therefore the forgiveness of sins for all through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
People sometimes wonder, why did God have to shed blood, even the blood of His Son, to remit or payoff the sin debt of the world?
Blood for sin? That’s a strange concept when we initially think of it but not so much upon reflection.
Scripture says that LIFE is in the blood. Life in the flesh is represented by spans of time.
“He lived 96 years. She lived only 39.”
In the end, or at least included in all sin is the theft of time (or life) from another.
When we steal we take the time a person put in to purchasing or obtaining the product stolen.
When we kill we take the whole of the life from another.
When we gossip we steal time from people in terms of pain and suffering and heartache.
Most sins wind up taking life from others, and since Life is in the Blood, the shedding of blood – the loss of life – is the price for the redemption of sin.
But it isn’t only the shedding of any blood. In the old testament, the shedding of animal blood temporarily covered the sins of the Nation of Israel. Animals represented innocent costly lives sacrificed by the shedding of their blood.
But the ultimate price for sin, the final price was the blood of the only one who did not deserve to die, who could have ostensibly lived forever, but gave up His life, his pure blood, as a means to pay for the sins of the world. Then speaking of Jesus Paul adds at verse 15:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Let’s take this passage on in two parts – with part one being how Paul describes Jesus as “the image of the invisible God.”
We have to note here that if or since the God being described is invisible, then the parts of Jesus that are in his image must also be . . . invisible.
So, we know that we are talking about characteristics, traits, immaterial make-up – that is how Jesus is in the image of the invisible God.
Paul reaffirms this about Jesus in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, saying
“ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:3, and speaking of Jesus Christ
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
The best meaning is that he represents to mankind the perfections of God as the word actually means the copy of God.
In other words, the being and perfections of God are accurately and fully represented by Christ.
I therefore cite 1st Timothy 3:16 which plainly states:
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. “
I want to use an illustration to help you understand what I think this means. And we will go to our trusty white board to do it.
When it comes to trying to understand the incomprehensible, the mysterious, and someone or something that has no beginning or end, that has created all things, and that swear by nothing
higher than himself or itself, the worlds citizenry could write all day, all year, for a million years, and not come close to defining him or it. Bottom line: our grasp of God is extremely limited. For this
reason we are going to appeal to a very simple symbol to represent Him and all that He is, relative to His interaction with Human beings – and it looks like an English language V:
ON BOARD
This simple form is used to illustrate the
fact that God is “greater than” all things
(below Him) and that all things are encompassed
by, originate from, and answer to Him
(above Him – meaning the universe or universes.
Everything in the universe answers to Him as He
Is greater than all things. This is the Old Testament
God or the representation of Him.
So that is God in the heavenly realm. We know that
He spoke all things into being, at the beginning, and therefore
He has what we would call words. (logos)
God the Father
For the living God to enter into the realm of time
and space representationally, he entered into our
human world as a human being, named Jesus of Nazareth.
OR . . . His Word (God’s Word) made Flesh, so let’s
Delineate the heavenly realm and the earthly here with a line.
Heavenly Realm God the Father
Earthly Realm Jesus of Nazareth
We note a few things about this representation on the board:
a. The Son is a mirror image of the Father.
b. The Son is under the direction of the Father.
c. The fullness of the father is in the Son.
d. All things are subject to the son (they answer to him – except the Father) and he is greater than all things (except the father)
e. We also note that while the Son is an extension of the father he is in a separate shape or form from the father. That shape was human.
Finally, after the Son overcame sin and death, and rose from the grave and ascended to his Father, taking his gloried body with him, God sent His Holy Spirit to earth to comfort lead and guide those who are His by faith and to call all souls to Christ.
This expression looks like this:
GOD THE FATHER
Heaven
Earth Jesus Christ Holy Spirit
EARTHLY REPRESENTATIONS OF GOD
Some observations about this figure include:
a. In the earthly realm the Son is representative of the Father physically (in human form) and the Holy Spirit is representative of the Father in Spirit form.
b. In reconciling the world to Himself and overcoming the obstacles to it like sin, death, Satan and Hell, God sent His only Son to both author and finish the works of salvation.
c. He then sent His Holy Spirit to reign over the Apostolic church-bride until Jesus returned in 70AD to take her in an unwrinkled and pure state.
d. The Holy Spirit has remained on earth ever since, going where it wants and moving like the breath of God, seeking lovers of the truth to join the Kingdom above or the Kingdom of His dear Son.
e. That kingdom is eternal and ever increasing and is in the hands of God, who is now all in all (through the victory of His Son and the work of His Holy Spirit) here on earth.
f. We note that the Son and the Holy Spirit are both:
i. Literal expressions of God the Father (identical)
ii. That they extend out and from Him toward Man (earth)
iii. And in and through them God reconciled and reconciles the world to Himself.
g. We also note that prior to Jesus coming to earth, meaning in the Old Testament time, there was one God and not three separate persons called Father Son and Holy spirit that made Him up. This is not to suggest that what came to earth as Jesus or the Holy Spirit were not in and with God forever, uncreated and eternal, but it is to suggest that, contrary to the man-made doctrine of the Trinity, these three were NOT three separate persons who make up the One God. Instead, the One God expressed himself on earth in the Son (who from the beginning was God’s Word) and the Spirit, (which is merely God’s Spirit but when entering the earthly realm becomes the spirit of His Son).
It’s a lot to take in, and the differences are subtle relative to creedal trinitarianism, but the differences are notable and important as this heuristic suggests that there is, in fact:
That there is One God
He became known as the Father when He gave us His only Human Son.
That Son was God’s very words made flesh and was His expressed image
And once His Son paid for the sin of the world and resurrected from the grave, God’s very Spirit, in the spirit of His only begotten Son, was sent at Pentecost, and began to do its work, as God and Christ with us, in the eternal adoption of more Sons and Daughters to Him forevermore.
So that speaks to the first line of verse 15, where Paul says:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God,” but then he adds,
“the firstborn of every creature:”
Now, we have to think about this line that describes Jesus as the “firstborn of every creature.”
If we are thinking materially, we know that Jesus is not the firstborn of every creature, right? I mean millions of people and creatures were born before Him.
And so we have to see these words in another way. And I would suggest that in His physical birth, as God with us, Jesus was the first born of those who would be sons and daughters of God spiritually.
We know that there will be many sons and daughters of God, through adoption, and all who experience this will follow in after Christ Jesus, who was the first BORN of ever spiritual child of God.
Revelation 3:14, in the introduction to the words to the church at Laodicea says, speaking of Jesus:
“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;”
And again I suggest that this speaks directly to Jesus as the beginning of the Spiritual creations of God for His kingdom.
Philippians 2:9, speaking of Jesus says:
“God hath given him a name which is above every name; he is as man at the head of all the creation of God.”
In other words, Jesus occupies the rank and pre-eminence of all as the firstborn of the Sons of God.
The first-born, or the eldest son, among the Hebrews as well as elsewhere, had peculiar privileges.
He was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance. And in early times, the firstborn son was the officiating priest in the family, in the absence or on the death of the father.
Some people have issue with Jesus being created or being called the firstborn of His creations.
But the fact of the matter is Jesus of Nazareth was created – he was made:
Romans 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
1st Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
These passages speak to the human representative, the human mediator who overcame the flesh that He inhabited and entered in as the firstborn of many on our behalf – God himself entering into time and space, taking on the form of a servant, overcoming His flesh, learning obedience through the things he suffered in the Man Jesus of Nazareth, who was in the fleshly sense, the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.
Romans 8:29 says: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And Hebrews 2:11 adds: “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Because of the LDS explanation of Jesus as our elder brother, meaning that he was our spirit brother in a false premortal existence, Christians are reticent to refer to Him as such.
But scripture surely does – but within the proper setting. Jesus is our fleshly brother, the firstborn of God spiritually and in the flesh, to overcome sin and death on our behalf and lead the way for human beings into the family of God.
Spiritually, Jesus was God, who, as His very logos “created all things that are in heaven and that are in earth.” So this part of his makeup was not made nor had beginning or end.
But in the flesh, he, Jesus of Nazareth was a made being, the image of God, and the firstborn of every creature.
Now speaking of His eternal nature, as the eternally existing Word of God, Paul adds at verse 16-17 some mind-blowing descriptions of Him, saying:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Now, obviously, this is not speaking of the Man Jesus of Nazareth, who was made, and who was born of a woman and under the law.
These passages are speaking to something much much bigger, much more eternal.
Many Christians naturally just take the man Jesus and assign verses 16-17 to him. This is incorrect, because the Man Jesus did NOT make all things in heaven and earth, etc. And it is a misnomer to suggest that He did.
The man Jesus was a man – flesh and bone – so we know that what Paul is describing here is the invisible God part of Jesus that we could not see with material eyes or touch with material hands.
Now, scholars and believers and trinitarians take Jesus the Man and Give him a second Nature, that of God, meaning, IN HIM they say dwelled two natures that WERE HIM.
I differ with this thinking the same way I disagree that Jesus, or us as believers have two natures. I think rather than Jesus of Nazareth and Shawn McCraney have one nature – human nature – but Jesus of Nazareth was born with the Nature of God in His fleshly frame, and that is the first overwhelming difference between Him and the rest of the Human race.
And then I think Jesus of Nazareth allowed God in Him to perfectly reign over His fleshly frame, something we as believers did not do before becoming believers OR even after becoming believers.
GOD was in Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus of Nazareth had to allow God to reign and because He did, God, only AFTER his resurrection, called Him his ONLY begotten.
I am fully convinced therefore that Jesus of Nazareth, God with us, allowed His flesh to undergo a process of deification, and in so doing, after successfully overcoming all, was brought to the right hand of His Father, as the firstfruits of many brethren.
However, God that was in Him, God that became Him, the Word made flesh, it did all that verses 16-17 describe and THEN attribute to Jesus the Man – because what was in Jesus the Man was what verses 16-17 describe.
So then (verses 16-17):
16 For by him (the Word of God) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him (the Word of God), and for him: (the Word of God)
17 And he (the Word of God) is before all things, and by him (the word of God) all things consist.
Paul attributes these things to Jesus because Jesus is our earthly representation of the invisible God, but I push back against the trinitarian notion that there was a God the Son, a person co-equal, co eternal with God the Father, who made all things, but instead side with the Old Testament version of Creation which has God speaking, saying, and all things coming into existence – and His words, heart, mind, will – becoming flesh then, and dwelling with us.
So, describing this invisible part of Jesus of Nazareth, Paul writes:
16 For by him (the Word of God) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him (the Word of God), and for him: (the Word of God)
17 And he (the Word of God) is before all things, and by him (the word of God) all things consist.
No problem with that, and all I would do is add John 1:14 to it that says:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Then after describing the pre-mortal power and purpose of the eternal Word of God, I suggest that Paul now, at verse 18, begins to speak to Jesus of Nazareths POST mortal purpose and power, saying
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 might have the preeminence.
Now in a utterly perfect glorified position where God His father has given all things over to Him Paul provides us with this description of the Risen Lord, saying again that
“he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
We know from other passages of scripture that Jesus is called the head of the Body which is His church and believers are its members.
We covered those passages in Ephesians 1:22 and 5:23.
But note here that Paul adds that Jesus is the BEGINNING . . . and this, I suspect, refers to the beginning of the literal Sons and Daughters of God who enter into the Kingdom with glorified bodies given them by the Father.
That is why Paul writes here:
“he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead . . .
He is the head, the first of all of those who will rise from their graves.
Some say that Jesus was not the first to be raised from the dead and the cite Lazarus being raised from the dead. But Jesus was the first born with a resurrected body from the dead as Lazarus was raised up after three or four days but he died again in the future.
“That in all things,” meaning, “among all
Things in heaven or earth, “He might have the pre-eminence.”
This means that he will have the first rank, dignity and honor – the pre-eminence.
So preincarnate, Jesus, as the Word of God, was the creator of all things everywhere. That is a title, right?
Then incarnate – post incarnate – he was called by God after his resurrection as His Only begotten.
And then due to His resurrection, he was post-resurrection, chief among those who will rise from the dead – which is all people, and he is
the head of the church and then the line at verse 19
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Now, contextually, this line speaks to all that Jesus was given of the father AFTER overcoming Himself, sin, death and then grave.
We could take the passage and just think that it is talking about the baby Jesus in the manger – and many do.
But it seems to me that Paul here has given us a wide sketch of the Son of God:
He starts with His power and purpose before all things, with God saying let there be, and there was, that in this capacity what would become a human being was the power, mind, words, will and heart of God. And when God spoke, things happened.
Then Paul brings us in to seeing that in and through His resurrection He became the head of the Church, which is the body, and then after establishing all of this about Jesus of Nazareth Paul adds:
“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell”
Apparently, the words, the Father, are not in the original manuscripts and so the passage reads better something like:
(RSV) For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,
(WEB) For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;
(YLT) because in him it did please all the fulness to tabernacle,
I tend to see this line as speaking to all that Jesus received as the Heir of the Father once he had overcome all things.
But some see the passage as speaking of Jesus as the Messiah having the fullness of all things in Him.
This interpretation is understandable since Paul will say in the next chapter
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
But again, at least to me, Paul is speaking of Christ POST death and resurrection and not necessarily in the context of a pre-mortal existence or during his mortal existence, but certainly afterward – all of the fulness of the Godhead dwelled within Him – then, and forever more.
PRAYER
