The Supremacy of Christ Over Everything
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. — Colossians 1:17–18
The Colossians were tempted by a bigger religion - angels, powers, secret knowledge, rules that promised more. Paul's answer was not a bigger religion. It was a bigger Christ. He wrote what may be the highest sentences about Jesus in the New Testament, and he wrote them to ordinary people in a small town who were in danger of thinking Jesus was not enough.
Supreme over creation
He is the image of the invisible God - to see Him is to see the Father. All things were created through Him and for Him: thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, the visible and the invisible. Nothing exists that He did not make and does not own. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The universe is not held up by physics with God somewhere behind it; it is held together, moment by moment, by Christ.
Supreme over the powers
The powers the Colossians feared were real, and Paul does not deny it. He simply places them: created by Christ, for Christ, and disarmed at the cross (2:15). Whatever you fear - spiritual, political, financial, personal - is either something He made or something He has defeated. There is no third category.
Supreme over the church
He is the head of the body. The church does not exist for its own sake, its leaders' sake or its programmes' sake. It exists as His body, and a body that does not obey its head is sick. Every decision in a church can be tested by one question: does this give Him first place?
Supreme over death
He is the firstborn from the dead. Death, the last enemy, has already lost the first round, and the firstborn guarantees the rest of the family. Your death is not in charge of your story. He is.
What it does to a believer
- Fear shrinks. The thing you fear is smaller than the One who holds you.
- Worship grows. Not because you are told to, but because you have seen Him.
- Loyalty simplifies. When one Person is over everything, you no longer have to serve many.
That in everything He might be preeminent - not merely first among equals, but first with no equal. Give Him that place, and everything else finds its own.