To wrap up this week we have seen how Christ is the creator as well as head of the church in regards to His centrality. Today we will look at how Christ is beloved by God. In Colossians 1:19-20 we see, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Define the Terms
When Paul wrote to the Colossian church the word he used for “all fullness” was one that the gnostic false teachers were familiar with. It was a technical term which meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.” Then by dwell Paul was not just simply meaning to reside such as I dwell in a fifth wheel camper at a campground, but more along the lines of to be at home permanently. Essientially Paul was stating that Christ had the power and attributes of God and that they were an essential part of his being. This was powerful as the gnostics believed that matter was evil and thus God could not interact with it, but Paul is stating just the opposite. It is not just that Christ had the power and attributes of God but that God the Father was pleased for Christ to have the fullness of God within Him.
What He Did
The next thing Paul points out is that God was pleased with Christ through Christ’s actions, “and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God was not only pleased for Christ to posses His nature and power, but also because of Christ fulfilling His purpose. Christ came to pay the ultimate price for humanity’s sin. The only sinless person dying on the cross as punishment for the sins of the world. When sin entered the world it caused separation, separation from God, separation from man, and it basically tears everything apart. What Christ did was to remove that separation; He restored the relationship between man and God, this is what Paul means by “making peace through the blood of the cross.” You see as we become new creations through our faith in Christ these divisions that were caused by sin start to get repaired. We find it easier to love our neighbor and to pray for our enemies. We find ourselves to be more forgiving at times; although these changes never come easy or all at once. It is as we truly become followers of Christ that we start to first hand experience this making of peace and reconciliation that only Christ can offer.
