The Preeminence of Christ

Knowing the Preeminent Christ (1-12)

The Colossae church was started by one of Paul’s converts, so Paul felt a sense of responsibility toward this fellowship. He began with a greeting (1-2) and then a prayer.

Paul gave thanks for their faith, love, and hope (3-4), then quickly reminded them of their life-changing event, the hearing of the gospel (5).

• Paul reminded the Colossians that the gospel bears fruit everywhere and increases as people come to understand the truth of God's grace revealed in the gospel (6).

• Paul reminded them that it was Epaphras who taught them the gospel (7).

• Paul reminded them that it was Epaphras who was faithful as a servant of Christ, and he was the one who told Paul about how the Colossians had loved others by the power of God’s Spirit (8).

Paul then laid out the prayer he had been praying. He prayed for them to know the full meaning and implications of God’s will so they would practice living out the Jesus-character (9):

• Being pleasing to God

• Nourishing other people’s lives 

• Always increasing in the knowledge of discovering God (10)

Paul continued to pray for the Colossians to be strengthened by God’s might and to endure with joy so they could remain out of the darkness and as those qualified to inherit God’s promises (11-12).

Praising the Preeminent Christ (13-20)

Paul then erupted into some praise, declaring that the Father had delivered them from being dominated by deception and transferred them into the Kingdom where God is King and rules a Kingdom where the Colossians have entered, freed from their sins (13-14).  

Many believe this next portion of the letter contains lyrics from a hymn commonly sung in the churches of Paul's day. To a church tempted by dark forces to add ritualistic disciplines and practices to their lives, Paul reveals Christ in this passage. He is the visible image of the invisible God, the Genesis of creation (15). He is the One “by, through, and for” whom the material world exists and is held together (16-17). He is preeminent in all things; He is the fullness of God and the Reconciler of all things. In short, Paul reminds the Colossians that no one and nothing is greater than Christ on the earth, for He is the fullness of God, the One through whom God is going to reconcile to Himself all things—things in Heaven, Earth, seen, unseen—making peace with the entire material universe through His blood on the cross (18-20).

Experiencing the Preeminent Christ (21-23)

Paul pointed out the former life of the church, when antagonistic toward God and estranged (21). He reminded the Colossians of Jesus' saving goal: to present them holy, unembarrassed, and without shame, ultimately and completely free from accusation (22). He also reminded the Colossians that God would complete what He began if they continued “steadfast,” not turning away from the hope proclaimed in the gospel (23). This portion of the letter becomes the overriding theme of the book. Paul was not only explaining why he worked so relentlessly, but he was also identifying the cause for which he wrote the letter—so the Colossians would become who they were made to be in Christ and by Christ.

The Riches of the Preeminent Christ (24-29)

In Paul’s mind, his suffering was proof of his genuineness, and those seeking to avoid suffering were likely not able to make the gospel fully known. Paul told the Colossians that he was filling up what was lacking in Christ’s affliction for His Body.

Paul wasn't saying Jesus’ suffering was incomplete or that he, Paul, was suffering in any way because of the sins of the world. Paul was suffering in Jesus’ place so the message of salvation, which had been hidden, could be revealed to the saints. Paul suffered to preach the messages as Jesus had suffered to make the message possible. Paul suffered for the gospel to be heard in Jesus’ place, while Jesus suffered for the sins of the world, revealing the gospel to be preached—two completely different purposes for suffering, but both essential to the gospel (24-25).

The message Paul preached was not about what the Colossians had done to become more spiritual, but about what Christ had done in them (“Christ in you”) to make them more Christ-like (“the hope of glory”) (26-27). His message was meant to lead to a maturity in which the Colossians were made more completely in the image of Christ, as Christ was the exact image of what God looked like (28). This is what Paul was striving to accomplish with all the energy God was giving him: the transformation of those in Colossae and around the world who put their faith in Jesus, to become and reflect all they were created to become and reflect—the Person of Jesus through their own personalities (29).