THE SON'S PRE-EMINENCE

Press, 13 August 1979, Page 2

THE SON'S PRE-EMINENCE

To the Colossians Pau! writes, I am an apostle, a special messenger, of Christ Jesus The Messiah. He presents himself as being, in the fullest sense of the term, an official representative of the annointed Saviour, and His spokesman. To Christ he , owes his appointment and ' his authority. Through Paul no one less than Christ Jesus Himself is addressing the Church. After giving thanksgiving to God for the Colossian Christians and praying for them continual growth in grace Paul then in detail sets down the doctrine of teaching of Christ in Vs 13-22. 1. Vs 13 and 14 summarize the divine work

of redemption. "The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of The Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, which means the forgiveness of our sins." 2. Vs 15 speaks of the outward and bodily feature* of Christ. "Now He is the exact likeness of the unseen God—the visible representation of the invisible; He is the first-born of all creation." 3. Vs 16 stresses Christ's pre-eminence above every creature. "For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on

earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him and in and for Him." 4. Vs 17 Now if all things have been created through Him with a view to Him, it stands to reason that He preceded all created beings in time. In fact there never was a time when He was not. "And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist—cohere, are held together." Read also (Prov. 8:22-31). 5. Vs 18-19. The previous verses showed the son's pre-eminence in the sphere of creation. Now in Vs 18 begins describing His equal sovereignty in the realm of redemption. "He-

also is the head of His body,, the Church; seeing He is the Beginning, The First-bom from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place-stand first and be pre-eminent. For it. has pleased The Father that ail the divine perfection, powers, attributes-should dwell in Him permanently." 6. Vs 20-22 Sin ruined the universe. It destroyed the harmony between one creature and the other, also between all creatures and their God. Through the blood of the cross, however, sin, .in principle has been conquered. "And Monday 's Message from

God purposed that through—by the service, and intervention of-Him The Son all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him The Father made peace by means of the blood of His cross. And although you at one time were estranged and removed from Him and of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities. Yet now has Christ The Messiah, reconciled you to God in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in The Father's presence."