The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (138 page)

Something to Think About:
Presenting Everyone Mature in Christ

W
hat was Paul's goal in ministry? He tells us in Colossians: “We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may
present everyone mature in Christ.
I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me” (1:28—29, emphasis added). This is what Jesus said should be the goal of his followers in the Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…[and]
teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you”
(Matt 28:19—20, emphasis added). Likewise, when some apparently believed in Jesus, he was unimpressed and challenged them, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples” (John 8:31), and later Jesus elaborated on what it means to “remain” in him (John 15:1—8).

Are you and I followers of Jesus Christ
—
close followers, that is
—
or are we following him only from a distance? Are our lives profoundly transformed so that we can say with Paul that “I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:19—20)? Are we taking our cue typically and habitually from the indwelling Holy Spirit as guided by God's Word or from other people, even Christians, or from the world around us? Are we driven by deep inner convictions and commitments instilled by our allegiance to Christ or are we, in Paul's words, “tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching” (Eph 4:14; similarly, Jas 1:6)?

Again, Paul's words in Colossians are wonderfully comforting and reassuring: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him
rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith,
just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (2:6—7, emphasis added). What is more, our focus should not merely be inward on our own maturation as believers but also outward as we lead others to true Christian discipleship and help them mature in Christ. Are you and I engaged in several committed, nurturing mentoring relationships with several specific fellow believers? This was clearly both Jesus’ and Paul's practice. Jesus had the Twelve, and Paul had his circle of close associates, including Timothy. With Paul, let us therefore strive to “present everyone mature in Christ” (1:28).

Paul focused on the great spiritual change that Christ's cross had effected for believers in their union with him in his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection (2:11—12). God granted them new life even when they were dead in transgressions (2:13), which he forgave and canceled by nailing the sinner's IOU to the cross (2:14). Christ's cross also thoroughly and publicly spelled the defeat of the evil forces aligned against believers (2:15). The supremacy of Christ's person and work severely undercut the false teachers and their message.
Therefore, they did not need to worry about supplementing their Christian faith with the ceremonial law (2:16—17), self-abasement, angelic worship, boasting in visions (2:18—19), or man-made decrees (2:20—23).

B. Believers’ New Life in Christ (3:1—4:6)

Paul built upon the foundational indicative concerning the person and work of Christ by adding the imperative call for bringing every area of life under that lordship. The cosmic scope of Christ's lordship must now be applied to the individual believer by pursuing the things above (3:1—4), and putting earthly things to death (3:5—8). Believers should put to death their old deeds because they have put off the old self and put on the new self (3:9-11). What is more, because they have experienced the forgiving grace of Christ, they can now express this same grace to others (3:12—17). Paul also exhorted his readers to bring the Christian household under the realm of Christ's lordship (3:18—4:1). He concluded the imperative section by focusing on prayer (4:2—4) and interaction with outsiders (4:5—6).

IV. Closing (4:7-18)

Paul concluded the letter in four ways.

A. Commendation of Tychicus and Onesimus (4:7—9)
First, Paul informed the Colossians that Tychicus and Onesimus (the converted runaway slave featured in Philemon), who were charged with carrying the letter back to the church at Colossae, would fill them in on his current situation.

B. Personal Greetings from Paul's Coworkers (4:10—14)
Second, Paul passed along some personal greetings from his coworkers, including Aristarchus, Mark, Jesus Justus, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas. Notably, two of the four evangelists are with Paul at this point in his ministry, visiting him in prison.

C. Final Instructions (4:15—17)
Third, Paul issued final instructions regarding the church at Laodicea, a church meeting at the house of a lady named Nympha, and a certain Archippus (see Phlm 2).

D. Final Greeting and Benediction (4:18)
Fourth, Paul greeted the Colossians, signing the letter with his own hand and offering a concluding grace benediction.

THEOLOGY

Theological Themes

The Supremacy of Christ
The theology of Colossians is Christ centered in that Paul especially focused on both the person and work of Christ. Colossians insists on the absolute supremacy of Christ over all things. The supremacy of Christ especially comes to the forefront in 1:15—20, which contains one of the most exalted depictions of Christ in the NT.

Most scholars recognize 1:15—20 as a pre-Pauline Christian hymn.
²⁰⁹
The structure of the hymn is still heavily debated.
²¹⁰
The best analysis suggests that the hymn breaks into two major strophes beginning with the words “who is”
(hos estin;
translated “He is” in the HCSB in vv. 15,18) and containing the word “firstborn”
(prōtotokos)
in the second line. These two major strophes also parallel each other in the phrases “because by Him” and “For…in Him”
(hoti en auto; vv
. 16,19); and “all things.…through Him” and “through Him…everything” (
ta panta di' autou;
vv. 16,20).
²¹¹
Thus the hymn probably has two major sections, portraying Christ as Lord in creation and Lord in the new creation.

The hymn appears to adapt and develop descriptions of personified wisdom, the divine
Logos
(“Word”), and the Spirit that appear in several ancient Jewish texts in a fresh way. These descriptions portray wisdom, the
Logos
, or the Spirit as the “fashioner of all things” who “pervades and penetrates all things,” an “emanation of the glory of the Almighty,” an “image of his goodness” who “renews all things” and “orders all things well,” and “that which holds all things together.”
²¹²
The hymn borrows elements of this imagery to present Jesus as the incarnation of deity.

Paul first described Jesus as the “image of the invisible God” (1:15). Although Paul elsewhere described human beings as “God's image and glory” (1 Cor 11:7) against the backdrop of Genesis 1, his language here clearly implies far more than that Jesus was merely a perfect man who manifested the image of God that had been marred through the fall and manifested in other human beings. Colossians 3:10 further develops the affirmation in 1:16 by describing Jesus as the Creator in whose image believers are being renewed. This hints that Jesus was the image of God, in keeping with God's original creation of humanity in Gen 1:26-27.

Although a few scholars have attempted to explain the phrase “the image of God” solely against the background of Genesis 1, most recognize that the phrase was derived from wisdom literature that adapted themes from Genesis 1 to describe personified wisdom.
²¹³
In wisdom literature the word
image
refers to a visible manifestation or tangible expression of God's attributes. For example, the intertestamental work Wisdom describes wisdom as “a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his
goodness” (Wis 7:26). Against this background, Paul's language presents Jesus as the visible form of the invisible God.

The description of Jesus as the image of God is rare in Paul's letters, occurring elsewhere only in 2 Cor
4:4.
There the description of Jesus as “the image of God” appears along with a reference to Jesus’ identity as “Lord,” the “glory” of Christ, the creation of light in Genesis 1, and the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. Paul was probably reflecting on the appearance of Jesus during his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. Acts 9:3 says that as Paul approached Damascus, “a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.” Paul recognized this brilliant light as the resurrected and exalted Christ. He fell on his face to shield his eyes from this intense and consuming radiance just in time to spare his life but not quickly enough to save his eyesight. To his surprise the voice that spoke to him from the divine glory was the voice of Christ: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5). This was likely the moment that defined many aspects of both Paul's soteriology and his Christology—Jesus was the visible form of the invisible God who radiated the divine glory.
²¹⁴

If the Colossian heresy was influenced by incipient
Merkabah
mysticism as the clues of the letter suggest, this description of Jesus may directly address the heresy. One of the motivations for the mystic's ascent was the desire to see God and to know what he looked like. J. H. Laenen wrote:

After the person who descended to the Merkavah had passed all the tests after a long and difficult journey through the heavenly realms, he finally reached the goal of his journey: the vision of the Holy One on his throne of glory. Here in the seventh palace of the seventh heaven God, the holy king, who had come down from an area unknown to humankind, had taken his place on his throne of glory. The traveler is completely overwhelmed by the sight of the mysteries of the divine throne. The Holy One was clothed in dazzling heavenly raiment, radiant with white light, and wore a crown which shimmered with rays of light.
²¹⁵

Paul's point may be that believers need not ascend through the heavens to see God in his visible form. God revealed his glory to believers already in the face of Christ, the visible manifestation of the invisible God.

After identifying Jesus as the image of God in keeping with God's original creation of humanity in his image, Paul continued with an explanation of Jesus’ involvement in creation. Jesus is the “firstborn over all creation” (1:15). The genitive modifier “over all creation” generated an enormous controversy in the early church. Arius interpreted the
phrase as a wholative genitive and viewed Jesus as a part of creation and thus himself a created being. Some modern Arian cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses still use this passage to argue that Christ was a created being rather than the eternal Son of God.

This analysis, however, is sadly mistaken. When a genitive noun modifies a title of authority, the genitive is typically a genitive of subordination that identifies the realm over which the authority figure rules. Because of the principle of primogeniture (right of the firstborn), the title “firstborn” is such a title of authority. The title “firstborn” typically described someone who had supremacy in rank because of his priority in time.
²¹⁶
The full title means that since Jesus existed before creation, he has authority over creation and is greater than it.
²¹⁷
Paul described Jesus as existing before creation explicitly in 1:17: “He is before [in time] all things.”
²¹⁸
Jesus existed before the first beam of light, the first drop of water, the first grain of sand, the first blade of grass, and the first man and woman. Because he existed before all things, he has authority over all things.

The word “firstborn” was used to speak of supremacy in rank throughout the OT. Israel was called God's firstborn, which means that the nation of Israel was God's favored and exalted nation. David is called God's “firstborn”: “I will also make him My firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth” (Ps 89:27). Thus when Jesus is called the “firstborn over creation,” this means that he existed before the act of creation and that he is the exalted king over all creation. All that exists must answer to him.

Paul then explained why Christ is supreme over all creation. First, Jesus is the agent of creation. He is the one through whom the Father made all that exists. He not only created the material universe, the visible world, he also created the spiritual world, including angelic beings of all kinds, four of which are thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities (1:16).
²¹⁹
Thrones are apparently the angels that attend to the throne of God in the highest heaven. If the Colossian heresy was influenced by incipient
merkabah
mysticism as abundant evidence suggests, it is probably significant that this is the only reference in Pauline literature to the “thrones,” a special category of angels who have access to the heavenly throne room, the coveted destination of the
merkabah
ascent. In the ascent to God, the angels served as guardians to prevent intruders. One had to present seals to these angels in
order to gain access to the next heavenly level. Some of these seals were Hebrew gibberish or angelic names. Since these angels granted access to God, they essentially fulfilled the function of a mediator, a role reserved for Christ alone. Thus the status of the angels in Jewish mysticism rivaled the role of Christ as the one mediator between God and man. Paul, however, demonstrated Jesus’ supremacy to the angelic mediators, who supposedly had to be appeased in the process of the mystic's ascent, by insisting that Jesus created all angelic beings. He is Lord over all because he is Creator of all.

Paul added that Jesus is the purpose of creation: “All things were created for him” (1:16, author's translation). Every created thing exists for the pleasure of Christ and for his glory. Jesus is also the sustainer of creation: “by him all things hold together” (1:17). Unlike the Creator portrayed by the deists, he did not simply wind up the universe and then sit back and watch it run, refusing ever to intervene with the mechanical and automatic processes that he set in motion. Instead, the Creator, who contrived the physical laws that govern the universe, sustains those principles by the active exercise of his power. If ever he withdrew his powerful hand from the universe, planets would stray from their courses to be incinerated by the sun. Celestial bodies would collide and crumble. People and objects would be flung from the spinning planet into the darkness of outer space. Apart from his powerful intervention, the cosmos would be reduced to chaos. The Greeks once glorified the giant Titan Atlas as one who stood on the edge of the earth supporting the sky on his shoulders lest it fall and crush the world's inhabitants. But the power ascribed to Christ here makes the myth of Atlas's strength dwarf in size. He is not merely one who suspends the sky above the earth; he orders and preserves the entire universe.