Something Greater

To them [Gentiles] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Reading only the first 26 verses of Paul's letter to the Colossians, it would appear that faith in Christ is a religion. A religion leads one to say, "My relationship with God is based upon what I do, and not do , and what I believe or not believe." A statement framed thusly is a declaration of religion. In religion I am independent and free...I can choose my own criteria for faith and behavior...my thoughts are my own...the only things that matter are my action and my attitude. I can compare myself to others by their actions and attitudes, and I can feel superior and justified . But the moment Paul writes, "...Christ in you...", my religion is shattered . "Christ in you" defines my condition as depending upon Jesus. My relationship with God depends upon the relation b

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known... (Colossians 1:24-25) "A stew boiled is a stew spoiled" ? Contrary to how the word may appear, stewardship is related to stew only by a tenuous stretch of the imagination. The bowl of stew that you enjoy on a cold afternoon is named after the act of taking a bath. (from a Middle English word, stuwen, meaning to bathe). The cook "bathed" meat and vegetables in simmering hot water to create your dinner. Stewardship, however, comes from the Anglo Saxon language: Steward, from Anglo Saxon stiweard, stigweard, fr. sti, stig, house , hall, sty + weard warden ; the position of an officer or employee in a large family or estate, managing domestic concerns, supervisi

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...(Colossians 1:19-22) The English word, “reconciled”, is from the Latin “reconcilio”, from the Greek “calo”, meaning to call. The literal sense is to call back into union . A lesson in Greek: Apokatallasso: fully reunited (reconciled) Katallasso: mutually changed (“changed down”) Allasso: made different Allos: else (AS “elles”, meaning “other”) Putting it all together, reconciled means: Mutually changed and fully reunited. Reconciliation is closely related to making peace. God made peace through a change on H

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15) Families traditionally have honored the first child born to a family , especially the first boy. Is that wrong, right, or just natural? Is it biblical? The Old Testament indicates it was a common custom: Laban (Jacob's uncle) said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. (Genesis 29:26) Reuben (Jacob's son), you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. (Genesis 49:3) Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine." (Exodus 13:2) If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And 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 1:15-18) Jesus is the image of God, writes Paul. What can that mean for us? We have no photographs of Jesus, no portraits were drawn or painted while He lived on earth. Why could Paul have not simply said that Jesus “is the invisible God?” Is an image something less than the real? Is Jesus something less than God? Let's begin our study by looking at the original Greek word that Paul used. “Image” is translated from the Greek word, eikon, meaning a likeness, a statue, or a profile . It could mean a representatio