Most people without kids don't realize the stress and time that is envolved with raising children.  I don't know how many times I've talked to a single person and wanted to smack them when they say, "I'm so busy!  I just don't have time to __________."  Normally their excuse is that they are working a part-time job and taking the bare minimum of credit hours at school.  Then for some reason they feel they have the right to look down on their married friends who only have a job and a kid to raise.

The reality that this article presents is that raising children (especially a stay at home mom) is probably one of the hardest "jobs" out there.  It is a strenuous joy that you can never truly understand until you get to undertake it yourself.

So here is my challenge.  Instead of living in your bubble, step back and evaluate how you could serve and sacrifice for your friends who have kids.  When the next great movie comes out, watch your friends kids so they can see it instead of seeing it yourself (it's called sacrifice).  Show up randomly and do some household work (cleaning, dishes, dusting, laundry, etc.).  Take their kids out and let them have a quiet night at home.  Hang out with mom and give her some adult conversation during the day.

I can tell you from experience, these are some of the greatest blessing you can give to parents.

I'm kinda emotionally overwhelmed/drained from yesterday.  The sermon was really heavy and life giving, but more than that, I found out that two guys that I was praying for accepted Christ yesterday.  The crazy thing is that I didn't know either guy at all.

The first guy had posted something on our church's web site a few weeks about life struggles.  It was clear that he wasn't a believer.  God put it on my heart to pray for the guy's salvation.  I had never met him, and had no plans to ever meet him.  The next thing I know...his girlfriend is attending out community group.  Then yesterday he attended the service with her and God saved him.

The other guy I still haven't met.  One of my volunteers during the 7pm service asked if I would pray for his friend that was attending the service.  The guy (not the volunteer) was addicted to drugs and decided he wanted to come to church again.  I prayed a quick prayer and didn't think to much about it afterwards.  I saw on Facebook this morning that the guy met Jesus and God saved the guy last night.

I know that God saves whoever He wants.  So I think it's so cool that God allowed me to be a part of these guys' story.  It just goes to show that one of the most powerful tools for evangelism is prayer.

There are several more themes about Jesus that Paul presents in his letter that we don’t have time to cover here. Paul presents Jesus as the mystery of the Father,[1] our proclamation,[2] the resurrection,[3] our mediator,[4] the fulfiller of Old Testament law,[5] and our sanctifier.[6] It is clear, though, that as you read the correspondence from Paul to the Colossians, you see that they were receiving a clear, concise, complete, and authoritative teaching on several themes that would help form their (and our) understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Paul writes the letter as an “apostle of Jesus Christ…to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae” (Col. 1:1). He gives thanks for their “faith in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:4). Paul goes on to give them deep doctrinal truths about the person and work of Jesus.[7] He speaks of his own ministry for and in Jesus.[8] He helps the Colossians see the errors in the heresies about Jesus.[9] Lastly, he ends his letter by helping the Colossians see what a life lived in Christ looks like.[10] The letter to the Colossians was written by a minister of Jesus, to a people of Jesus, to give a better understanding of Jesus, so that the Colossians could learn to walk in Jesus. From start to finish, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is all about Jesus.

[2] Col. 1:28; 4:3

[3] Col. 2:12; 3:1

[4] Col. 3:17

[5] Col. 2:16-19

[6] Col. 1:28; 2:7; 3:16

[7] Col. 1:9-22

[8] Col. 1:23-19

[9] Col. 2:1-23

[10] Col. 3:1-4:18

Of all the ways that Paul presents Jesus’ atonement, he devotes most of his attention to Jesus being presented as the Colossians reconciliation. Colossians 1:19-22 states:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him….

Grudem defines reconciliation as “the removal of enmity and the restoration of fellowship between two parties.”[1] It is through Christ that the relationship that God once had with humanity in the Garden of Eden is restored.

Paul tells the Colossians that they were alienated. MacArthur explains that “Apallotrioo (alienated) means ‘estranged,’ ‘cut off,’ or ‘separated.’ Before their reconciliation, the Colossians were completely estranged from God.”[2] There was no relationship between them and God. As we’ve already seen, this wasn’t an estrangement in which God was simply ignoring them though. Instead, they were cut off from God and under His wrath.

This estrangement went two ways though. Paul continues to write that the Colossians were “hostile in mind” (Col 1:21). Stott says, “True, we were ‘God’s enemies,’ hostile to him in our hearts. But the ‘enmity’ was on both sides. The wall or barrier between God and us was constituted by our rebellion against him and by his wrath upon us on account of our rebellion.”[3] The Colossians’ estrangement from God was their choice as they were hostile towards God and chose to do “evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). God in his righteousness could not be in their presence because of their sin and had to separate himself from them.

Paul shows the Colossians are no longer estranged from God though. The relationship has been restored, and it is Jesus who reconciles them by “making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20).  Jesus “has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death” (Col. 1:21). Reconciliation happens by the blood of Jesus on the cross. Hendriksen explains what this reconciliation means:

Through the blood of the Son of God’s love peace had been made. He, meaning this Son of God’s love, in his body of flesh (that was the sphere of the reconciliation), and through his death (that was the instrument) had brought about a return to the proper relation between the Colossians and their God. A return, not as if there had been a time, many, many years ago, when these Colossians had been Christians, but rather in this sense, that the establishment of peace between the Father-heart of God and the soul of the sinner is for the latter a going back to the state of rectitude in which God originally created man.[4]

Jesus pays the penalty for their sin and cleanses them from it, allowing the Colossians to have the close, intimate relationship that man once had with God.

In this passage, Paul also speaks of Jesus’ reconciliation of all of creation. This isn’t reconciliation in the same sense that is spoken of for the Colossians. Paul isn’t presenting a doctrine of universalism. Instead, Paul is referencing back to the preeminence of Christ in creation that is stated in verse 16 as Paul says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” MacArthur clarifies that “there is a sense in which even fallen angels and unredeemed men will be reconciled to God for judgment – but only in the sense of submitting to Him for final sentencing. Their relationship to Him will change from that of enemies to that of the judged.”[5] Paul is speaking of a reconciliation that brings all things under the rule of Jesus Christ.

[2] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 60.

[3] Stott, The Cross of Christ, 197-198.

[4] Hendriksen, Phillippians / Colossians / Philemon, 83.

[5] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 59.

In the same way that Paul presents Jesus as their propitiation, he presents to the Colossians that Jesus is their expiation. On the Day of Atonement after the high priest had sacrificed the goat and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat as Israel’s propitiation, he performed a ceremony with another goat:

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness (Lev. 16:21-22).

Whereas the first goat paid for the sins of the people, the second goat actually removed those sins from the people. This cleansing from their sin is what we call expiation.

Paul reminds the Colossians that they were “doing evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). The Colossians are reminded of their “old self with its evil practice” (Col 3:9, NASB). They were a people that were marred by their sin, but Paul also reminds them of the expiation of Jesus. Jesus “has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col 1:22). Through the cross of Christ, their sins are “set aside” (Col 2:14), and they are presented to God as holy. This is only possible because Jesus acted as their expiation, cleansing them from the filth of their sin.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, it is clear that he wants them see that Jesus is their propitiation. Wayne Grudem defines propitiation as “a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us into favor.”[1] This is a concept that would have been familiar to Paul’s Jewish readers in Colossae. Every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would offer a goat as a sacrifice for the sins of the people in order to deter the wrath of God.[2]

Paul clearly shows the Colossians that they were under the wrath of God because of their sin. Paul tells them to “put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Col. 3:5-6). The earthly things that are in them, their sin, will lead to nothing more than the wrath of God. Wright clarifies:

Destruction, indeed, will be the result for those who disregard the warning: because of these, the wrath of God is coming. It is not the case that God happens to dislike this sort of behavior and so has decided as it were arbitrarily, to punish it. On the contrary. ‘The wrath of God’, it hardly needs saying, is not a malicious or capricious anger, but the necessary reaction of true holiness, justice and goodness to wickedness, exploitation and evil of every kind.[3]

Paul wants the Colossians to know that their sin will lead to the wrath of God. On the other hand, Paul doesn’t simply present the wrath of God. He also presents Jesus as their propitiation.

Paul tells them that God the Father is “making peace by the blood of [Jesus’] cross” (Col. 1:20). In the same way that a goat’s blood was offered on the Day of Atonement for the sins of Israel to hold back the wrath of God, it is that Jesus’ blood is offered on the Colossians part to bring peace with God. Unlike the goat’s blood though, Jesus’ sacrifice was done once and for all “by canceling the record of debt…nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). It is through the cross that Jesus becomes a propitiation for the Colossians taking the wrath of God upon himself.

[2] Lev. 16:8-9, 15

[3] Wright, Colossians and Philemon, 135.

Paul also connects Jesus’ work on the cross as a victory over sin and the rulers of this world. “Christ was victorious over evil powers in his death, resurrection and ascension. In recent years this emphasis has been particularly associated with the Swedish theologian Gustav Aulén, whose own position has become known as Christus Victor, after the book of the same name.”[1]

Paul presents Jesus as the Colossians’ Christus Victor in his letter when he states that “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:14-15). In one single act on the cross, Jesus took the penalty for the Colossians’ sin and a conquered its power. John Stott makes the connection in these verses for us in his foundational book The Cross of Christ:

Paul here brings together two different aspects of the saving work of Christ’s cross, namely the forgiveness of our sins and the cosmic overthrow of the principalities and powers. He illustrates the freeness and graciousness of God’s forgiveness (charizomai) from the ancient custom of canceling debts. ‘The written code with its regulations, that was against us’ can hardly be a reference to the law itself, since Paul regarded it as ‘holy, righteous and good’ (Rom. 7:12); it must rather refer to the broken law, which on that account was ‘against us and stood opposed to us’ with its judgment.…God frees us from our bankruptcy only by paying our debts on Christ’s cross. More than that He has ‘not only canceled the debt, but also destroyed the document on which it was recorded’.

Paul now moves from the forgiveness of our sins to the conquest of the evil powers…[I]t is surely significant that Paul brackets what Christ did to the ceirographon (canceling and removing it) with what he did to the principalities and powers (disarming and conquering them). The bond he nailed to the cross; the powers he defeated by the cross. It does not seem necessary to insist on the latter being any more literal than the former. The important point is that both happened together.[2]

Paul wanted the Colossians to see that Jesus’ death wasn’t only substitionary death on their behalf to pay their debt, but that his death was also victorious. Through Jesus’ victory on the cross, they now had victory over the power of sin and the rulers and authorities of this world.

[2] Stott, The Cross of Christ, 233-234.

Jesus is also presented to the Colossians as their redemption. Paul tells the Colossians that God the Father “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). As Jesus has paid for their penalty of sin, he also redeems them from the domain of darkness.

As a slave is redeemed from an evil master, so are the Colossians. They are no longer mastered by sin because of the forgiveness found in the cross. Paul restates it to the Colossians and says, “you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13). In the atonement, Jesus becomes their redeemer.

Paul presents Jesus to the Colossians as their penal substitutionary atonement. Being unable to take care of the penalty of their sins, Jesus substituted himself on the cross for them. Paul writes to the Colossians: “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). The Colossians were in debt and deserved the penalty of death and hell.

The New American Standard translation of the Bible says that the certificate of debt was “hostile to us” (Col. 2:14, NASB). “The certificate was hostile to us, that is, it was enough to condemn us to judgment and hell, because ‘cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them’ (Gal. 3:10).”[1] But this debt was set aside when God took out the Colossians’ punishment in Jesus on the cross, thereby making him their penal substitutionary atonement. “As our substitute Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves: he bore our sin and judgment.”[2]

[2] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 276.

While Paul presents many different themes about the person and work of Jesus Christ in Colossians, none is more predominant than Jesus as the atonement for sin. It is in Christ that they have “the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). Paul makes reference after reference to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for the Colossians.

Each one of these is a reference to Jesus as the atonement for sin in one way or another, but each reference has its own flavor as to how Jesus is our atonement. The fact is that books have been written on each one of these themes in and of themselves. Therefore over the next couple weeks, we will briefly look at each one on it’s own to gain an understanding of the fullness of the message of atonement in Jesus that Paul was trying to convey.

While Paul displays Jesus’ preeminence and authority over all of creation, he also takes the time to show Jesus in authority over the church. Right before Paul declares Jesus’ preeminence over everything in Col. 1:18, he states that Jesus “is the head of the body, the church.” Wright states:

It is to this Jesus Christ, none other, that the Colossians now belong in belonging to the church. This is the moment when…the thought moves from creation to new creation. Paul starts where the Colossians are, as members of the one world-wide people of God. If God’s people are the new humanity, the metaphor of a human body is utterly appropriate to express not only mutual interdependence (as in Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12ff.) but also, as here, an organic and dependent relation to Christ himself.[1]

Jesus isn’t just the ultimate authority in the church, but he intimately leads his church. As it is impossible for our bodies to survive and move without our head, so it is true of the church. Jesus is in a deep and intimate relationship as he leads his church. Jesus is the head and we are “his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24).

Jesus’ headship in the church is also reiterated in Paul’s references to his and Colossians place in the church under and for Jesus. From the very first sentence in his letter to the Colossians, Paul shows Jesus’ headship by saying that he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:1). Paul’s apostleship is only shown to be of value because of its relationship to Jesus. When Paul speaks of Epaphras, he says that Epaphras “is a faithful minister of Christ” (Col. 1:7). Being called to one body in Christ, the Colossians are called to “let the peace of Christ rule in [their] hearts” (Col. 3:15). As the body of Christ, they are called to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). Lastly, Paul gives them a clear perspective on their work, saying that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23-24). As members of the body of Christ, the person the Colossians ultimately work for isn’t here on earth but the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus isn’t just the head of the church, but he is also displayed at the source of the church. Paul continues in verse 18 to say that Jesus “is the beginning.” MacArthur gives a better understanding of what Paul meant when he used the word beginning:

Arche (beginning) used here in the twofold sense of source and primacy. The church has its origins in Jesus. God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). It is He who gives life to His church. His sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf provided our new life. As head of the Body, Jesus holds the chief position, or highest rank in the church. As the beginning, He is its originator.[2]

Because of the work of Jesus on the cross, the Colossians have been brought into the body of Christ. The source of the church is Jesus, as “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20). The Colossians have been saved from their sin to Jesus and his body, the church.

[2] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 51.

Because of Jesus’ standing as fully God and his role as the agent of creation, Paul naturally displays Jesus’ preeminence over all of creation. Paul tells the Colossians that Jesus is “the first-born of all creation” (Col. 1:15). Some might see this as confusing and think that Paul was saying that Jesus was created. Paul’s Jewish readers would have understood exactly the point he was making. “’Firstborn’ was a Hebraic-Jewish way of saying ‘specially honored.’ In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was called ‘firstborn’ (Ex 4:22). So was David (Ps 89:27). In such contexts, the reference is not to physical birth but to position of honor before God. Paul is saying that Christ has ‘pride of place’ over all creation.”[1]

Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that Jesus “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). Jesus “is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Col. 1:18). John MacArthur Jr. comments on these verses, saying, “As a result of His death and resurrection, Jesus has come to have first place in everything. Paul summarizes for emphasis in verse 18. He wants to drive home the point as forcefully as he can that Jesus is not merely another emanation from God.”[2]

In the same line of thought, Paul focuses on Jesus authority. Jesus is “the head of all rule and authority” (Col. 2:10). The Father “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15). Ultimately, Jesus reigns over all of creation as he is “seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Paul emphasizes the authority of Jesus by continuously using the title of Lord [kurious] for Jesus.[3] The word kurious ascribes to Jesus the place and position of might, power, master, and owner and is “the NT Gr. Equivalent for the OT Hebr. Jehovah.”[4] As Paul is writing to the Colossians, it is clear to see that he wants them to see Jesus in his rightful place, high and exalted in complete preeminence and authority over all of creation.

[2] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 52.

[3] Col. 1:3,10; 2:6; 3:13,17,18,20,22,23,24; 4:7,17

[4] Zodhiates, The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary, 900.

Paul also displays Jesus as creator in Colossians. He states that “by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” (Col. 1:16). Paul wants to hammer home the point that everything was created by Jesus.  In fact, he goes on to restate his point. He says that Jesus was the agent and purpose of creation as “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16).   William Hendriksen explains:

All things – it makes no difference whether they be material or spiritual – were created in him, that is, with reference to the Son, the firstborn. As two walls and the bricks in these walls are arranged in relation to the cornerstone, from which they derive their angle of direction, so it was in relation to Christ that all things were originally created. He is their Point of Reference. Moreover, it is through him, as the Agent in creation, and with a view to him or for him as creation’s Goal that they owe their settled state.[1]

The Apostle Paul wanted to make sure there was no confusion about Jesus’ place in creation. He wanted to make it very clear to the Colossians that Jesus was creator and not creation.

Paul also goes on to emphasize Jesus’ intimate relationship with his creation. The next verse states that “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Jesus didn’t simply create the heavens and the earth to only walk away. Instead, Jesus sustains creation. Wright comments on Col. 1:17 saying, “The world is now sustained and upheld by Christ…The verb, again, is in the perfect, indicating that ‘everything’ has held together in him and continues to do so. Through him the world is sustained, prevented from falling into chaos. No creature is autonomous. All are God’s servants (Ps. 119:91) and dependents (Ps. 104).”[2]

Jesus’ act of sustaining is also focused on the Christians in Colossae. Paul states that “when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). It is only the life that is lived in Christ that ultimately leads to glory with him. Paul refers to Jesus’ sustaining power elsewhere in Colossians. Paul is “struggling with all his energy that [Jesus] powerfully works within me” (Col. 1:29). The Colossians are told that since they have received Jesus Christ, they are now to “walk in Him” (Col. 2:6). Jesus is their savior and sustainer.

[2] Wright, Colossians and Philemon, 73.

While Jesus is fully God, he lives in relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinitarian Godhead. Paul consistently presents Jesus as fully God, but he also presents Jesus as the Son of God. This doesn’t make Jesus any less of God, because Paul clearly articulates Jesus’ deity. But Paul distinguishes Jesus’ role and relationship within the Trinitarian Godhead. According to Bruce Ware,

The Son, then, is fully God. He is not one-third God, but fully God. Yet, it is not the Son alone who is fully God, but he eternally exists along with the Father and the Spirit, each of whom also possesses fully the identically same divine nature. Because of this, what distinguishes the Son from the Father and the Spirit is not the divine nature of the Son. This–the one and undivided divine nature–is also possessed equally and fully by the Father and the Spirit. Therefore, what distinguishes the Son is his particular role as Son in relation to the Father and to the Spirit and the relationships that he has with each of them.[1]

Throughout the epistle to the Colossians, Paul shows the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Paul’s first reference between Jesus and God the Father is in Col. 1:3 when Paul gives thanks to “God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul establishes that there is God the Father and God the Son. Continuing in Colossians, God the Father delivers “us to the kingdom of his beloved Son^” (Col. 1:13). Paul declares that it is “the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in [Jesus]” (Col. 1:19, NASB).

Paul also makes known that the Son’s role is in submission to the Father’s authority. Jesus was used by the Father “to reconcile to himself all things” (Col. 1:20, ESV). “God [the Father] made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13). Jesus’ role as the Son is to be used as the Father’s agent of salvation. Jesus is the Father’s agent of creation as “all things were created through him” (Col. 1:16). The Father also “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Jesus]” (Col. 2:15).  Lastly, Jesus is our mediator to the Father. Paul says that the Colossians are to give “thanks to God the Father through [Jesus]” (Col. 3:17). Through Jesus, the Colossians had a relationship with the Father.

While Paul makes several references to God the Father, there is only one reference to the Holy Spirit in the epistle to the Colossians. In Col. 1:7, Paul speaks about Epaphras being a “faithful minister of Christ” to the Colossians. In the same sentence, Paul says that Epaphras has “made known to us your love in the Spirit” (Col. 1:8). While this doesn’t give us much of an understanding of the role and relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, it does let us know that the Colossians would have known there is a third person of the Godhead. The Colossians would have to rely on other epistles from Paul that would eventually circulate to them, the gospels, and the teachings of Epaphras to get a better understanding of the rich interaction between Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

[SIDE NOTE: To have a better understanding of the Trinity, go buy Bruce Ware's book "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance" right now and read it immediately.  It is the best book I've read on the Trinity to date (not like I've read a lot...but it's really good).  Don't wait...go do it.]

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance

While Paul clearly articulates the deity of Jesus, he doesn’t shy away from focusing on Jesus’ humanity. In Colossians 2:9, Paul makes the second of his statements about Jesus having all the fullness of deity dwell in Him, but Paul doesn’t end there. Within the same sentence, Paul uses one simple word that could seemingly be completely contradictory or at least paradoxical. Paul states that in Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” [emphasis added]. Paul is stating that Jesus is fully God while also being fully human.

Paul uses the word “bodily” (soma) in his statement to combat the thought that Jesus was simply a spirit that appeared to be human. This can be seen in Paul’s previous statement in Colossians that this body was a “body of flesh” (Col. 1:22). The Complete Word Study Dictionary explains that “in Col. 1:22 the expression ‘in the body of his flesh [sarx]’ means in his body incarnate, flesh that forms an organized whole. This is the antithesis of he psuche… , the soul … , and to pneuma … , the spirit … ; or where soma, psuche and pneuma make a peripharasis for the whole man.”[1] Jesus was God incarnate.

Paul also emphasized this fact in the references to Jesus’ death. Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead” [emphasis added] (Col. 1:18). Jesus reconciles all things “making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19). “He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death” (Col. 1:22). We have “been buried with him in baptism” (Col. 2:12). Since God is immortal, these references to Jesus’ death can only be attributed to the fact that Jesus was human.

Now Paul isn’t simply saying in these passages that God simply put on a suit of flesh and walked around on earth for a little over 30 years and then removed it. He is saying that Jesus is 100% human. To every extent that we are human, Jesus is. These can be known from Paul’s statement that the Colossians are “reconciled in [Jesus’] body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22). The only way that Jesus could have completely reconciled them was if he was completely human. The early church fathers made this clear in their defense against Apollinarianism at the Council of Constantinople.  Fred Sanders explains:

Behind the rejection of Apollinarianism was a vision of salvation represented by the soteriological axiom: ‘What is not assumed is not healed.’ This axiom, articulated by Gregory of Nazianzus (who chaired part of the proceedings), presupposes that the Son of God saved humanity by ‘taking on’ or ‘assuming’ human nature into union with himself. Everything in human nature needs to be saved, so everything must be taken into union with Christ. In this light if Christ had no human soul, the human soul is left unredeemed.[2]

So when Paul says that we are “reconciled in his body of flesh” (Col. 1:22), this is only possible if Jesus is fully human. If any part of Jesus is less than human, then humanity could not be completely reconciled with God.

As you turn the pages of the letter to the Colossians, you can see that Paul wanted the readers to know that Jesus was fully human. This was not in contradiction to Jesus’ deity but in addition to it. In Jesus, “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). Jesus was both fully God and fully man.

The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary: New Testament

[2] Scott Horrell et al., Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology (B&H Academic, 2007), 20.

One of the primary themes about Jesus that Paul presents to the Colossians is that Jesus is fully God. This theme is clearly presented in two key passages. Paul says, “for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” (Col. 1:19) and later Paul reiterates this truth by saying, “for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:19). Jesus wasn’t partly God or a godly person. He was God. John MacArthur Jr. helps us to better understand what Paul meant by the “fullness” of God dwelling in Jesus:

Pleroma (fulness) was a term used by the later Gnostics to refer to the divine powers and attributes, which they believed were divided among the various emanations. That is likely the sense in which the Colossian errorists used the term. Paul counters that false teaching by stating that all the fulness of deity is not spread out in small doses to a group of spirits, but fully dwells in Christ alone.[1]

Not only is Jesus said to contain the fullness of God, but Paul also says that “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). This statement would have reminded Paul’s Jewish readers of Genesis 1:27, which states that “God created man in his own image.” Jesus wasn’t created, though. “As the image of the invisible God, the Son is, first of all, himself God.”[2] In this statement, Paul is pointing to the deity of Jesus.

Along with the clear statements of the deity of Jesus, there are also other statements in which Paul gives the incommunicable attributes of God to Jesus. There are a few that are worth noting. We have “forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). Paul states that “all things were created through him” (Col. 1:16). Jesus is declared to be eternal, as “he is before all things” (Col. 1:17). The preservation of our salvation is found in Jesus as we are “built up in Him” (Col. 2:7). Jesus is in heaven and “seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Whether boldly stating the fullness of Jesus’ deity or subtly giving attributes of God to Jesus, the Apostle Paul is communicating to the Colossians that Jesus is fully God.

Colossians and Philemon

[2] William Hendriksen, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (The New American Commentary, Vol. 32) (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1981), 71.

What would it have been like to be one of the first recipients of a letter from the apostle Paul? To be a member of the small growing movement of Jesus followers? To receive some of the first teachings about Jesus and his church? Receiving from the apostles letters of encouragement as you struggled in your early faith? Would you know that what you were holding in your hands would later make up our modern-day Bible? Many of the churches that Paul wrote to were struggling and fighting with false teachers and false doctrine that was creeping into the body. The apostle would write to these churches to encourage and correct them in order to help them grow in Christ. This is the case with his letter to the Colossians.

The book of Colossians was written sometime around 62 A.D. by the Apostle Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome.[1] [2] It is interesting that Paul wrote a letter to the church in Colossae. Colossae was a small, rural town in the valley of the Lycus that was hidden in the shadow of the greater cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.[3] Furthermore, there is no record that he ever visited Colossae. He even states that they had never seen him “face to face” (Col. 2:1).[4] To top it off, “[h]e was not the founder of their church. That honor fell to Epaphras, who was a native of the area and had labored for its evangelization.”[5]

So why would Paul have taken the opportunity to write to the church in Colossae? It is clear from the letter that Epaphras traveled to Rome to visit with Paul, to seek his wisdom, and to encourage him with the growth of the church in the area. There is common understanding among scholars that there was a growing heresy in the church at Colossae. Therefore, it is thought that Paul wrote Colossians as a letter of encouragement to the church. Where exactly the heresy came from or what it was, no one really knows. According to N.T. Wright,

Scholars have long held that Colossians was written to combat a particular danger within the young church. False teachers were inculcating spurious doctrines and practices, demoting Christ from his position of unique pre-eminence, and encouraging various dubious mystical and ascetic religious practices. But there is no agreement on the identity of these teachers or the nature of their teaching.[6]

In general, Paul’s defense and doctrine in Colossians went against both common Judaic and Pagan distortions about the person and work of Jesus. Therefore, Paul’s writing in Colossians focuses heavily on Jesus. This focus gives Colossians a very heavy Christology (the study of the person and works of Jesus Christ).

Donald Guthrie makes this point very vividly in his book New Testament Introduction when he says the following:

The epistle contains a high Christology. Christ is pre-eminent over all other creatures and over creation itself. In fact, all things were not only created by him but for him. He is seen at the centre of the universe, sovereign over all principalities and powers, over all agencies, that is to say, which might challenge his authority. Not only so, he is the image of God and possessor of the fullness of God, and these statements could not fail to exalt him to an equality with God. He is further described as the Head of the church, which is conceived of as his body. The Christological passage (Col. 1:15-19) in which all these ideas are expressed is followed immediately by a statement regarding Christ’s redemptive work (1:20 ff.) and this work is supported by the further statement in 2:14 that in the cross Christ triumphed over all his enemies. Clearly Paul’s purpose is to demonstrate the immeasurable superiority of Christ, as contrasted with the inadequate presentation of him being advocated by the Colossian false teachers.[7]

The book of Colossians was written, by a man who served Jesus, to a church that wanted to follow Jesus so that they might know who Jesus truly is. This epistle, in the simplest and clearest way, is all about Jesus. So being a church in the first century that had never met or heard from Paul in person, what would they have learned from the Apostle Paul’s letter about the person and work of Jesus? In the coming weeks we will answer just that question on this blog. As you read the correspondence from Paul to the Colossians, you see they were receiving a clear, concise, complete, and authoritative teaching on several themes that would help form their (and our) understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Colossians and Philemon: New Testament Commentary

[2] David Lipscomb, A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles: Ephesians Philippians, and Colossians (Nashville, Tennessee: Gospel Advocate Company, 1939), 245.

[3] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction, Rev Upd Su. (InterVarsity Press, 1990), 564.

[4] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical quotations come from the English Standard Version.

[5] Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey (Baker Academic, 1998), 318.

[6] N. T. Wright, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary (IVP Academic, 2008), 23.

[7] Guthrie, New Testament Introduction, 571-572.