The Supreme Savior
Colossians 1:19-20
In this opening chapter of Colossians, Paul gave thanks to God for the faith and love of the Colossian believers because of their hope in the gospel (Col1:3-8). Then, by his prayers for them to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and to walk worthy of the Lord, the apostle encouraged them to joyfully give thanks for what the Father has done for them in Christ (Col. 1:9-14). This included being delivered from Satan’s rule of darkness, being transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and having redemption, “the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14).
But this saving work of God rests on two things: the Person of Christ and the Work of Christ. Our redemption and forgiveness of sins depend on the qualifications of the Savior whose work accomplished redemption and forgiveness. So the apostle devoted Colossians 15-20 to describing who this “Son of God’s love” is and what He has done. As we saw last time, in Colossians 1:15-18 Paul gave a powerful description of the person of Christ. In relation to the Father, Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15a). In relation to the creation, Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all things (Col. 1:15b-17). And in relation to the new creation, Christ Jesus is the head of the church and firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18). All of this proves the preeminence of Jesus Christ over all things.
Now in Colossians 1:19-20, he moves to a powerful description of the work of Christ. As with the description of the person of Christ, Paul also relates the work of Christ to God the Father (Col. 1:19), to the creation (Col. 1:20), and to the new creation, the church (Col. 1:21-23)[1]. Paul summarizes Christ’s work as reconciliation—that by Christ, God reconciles all things to Himself (Col. 1:20). Jesus Christ is preeminent because He is the only means of reconciling all things to God. Today we will look at Colossians 1:19-20 as we see the work of Christ in relation to the God the Father and to all creation. Next time, in Colossians 1:21-23, we will examine the personal application of Christ’s supreme reconciling work in us, His church.
So our text has two verses which divide into two things that God the Father was pleased to do in and through Christ. Look at Colossians 1:19, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” That verse begins with the conjunction “For” which introduces the reason why the Son of God is preeminent in the new creation. Christ’s supremacy is not only found in who He is as the image of the invisible God, the creator and sustainer of all things, and the head of His body the church, but His supremacy is also found in what Christ does in His reconciling work.
What did Jesus Christ do as our supreme Savior?
1. In Christ dwells all the fullness of God (Col. 1:19)
To be our supreme savior, the eternal Son of God came to earth as a man. This is what we call the doctrine of the incarnation. In the Gospel of John, speaking about the eternal Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1-2), John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:14, 16).
Paul writes in Colossians 1:19, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” This is a difficult verse to translate from the Greek because it is not clear what the subject of the verbs are in the sentence. Listen to these various translations: “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (NASB); “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,” (NIV, CSB); “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (ESV and LSB, making “fullness” the subject of “was pleased”). Even though the grammar is obscure, all the translations come to the same conclusion. God the Father was pleased for all the fullness to dwell in Christ. In other words, it was the will of the Father to have all the fullness dwell in Christ.
What fullness dwells in Christ? The fullness of God. Look forward to Colossians 2:9. There, Paul writes about Christ, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” All the fullness means totality without exception, deficiency, or lack. Both to Paul and to the Colossian heretics, “fullness” conveyed the idea of “the totality of the divine powers and attributes.”[2] The heretics claimed to offer “fullness” to the Colossians that Epaphras’ gospel message had lacked. Paul counters by saying that you can’t get any fuller than Christ, because all the fullness of God dwells in Him. Christ has ALL the divine attributes in Himself. Everything that God is, Jesus is. Spurgeon says, “It tells us that Christ is substance and not shadow, fullness and not foretaste.”[3]
Paul indicates that it was the Father’s will, that He was well-pleased, for the eternal Son of God to become a man. The word “dwell” means to take up permanent residence. And God’s fullness was in Christ for the purpose of reconciling us to God. Paul is declaring that the fullness of God’s saving grace and provision of salvation resides totally in the work of Christ through the blood of the cross. Nothing else can be added to the work of the Son.[4] There is nothing lacking in our salvation, because Jesus is all in all. He is the only Savior you need. He is the all-sufficient Savior because He is the all-sufficient God.
This leads us to our second point. What did Jesus Christ do as our supreme Savior?
2. By Christ God reconciles all things (Col. 1:20)
Colossians 1:20, “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Reconciliation is the restoring of a relationship has been broken, ruptured, or dislocated. And the word used here pictures a total reconciliation or complete restoration of peace and harmony. And it is a one-way reconciliation, accomplished by only one party. It is not the idea of a mutual concession after mutual hostility. It is God who reconciles us “to Himself.” We don’t reconcile ourselves.
Why is reconciliation necessary? Because of human sin. Paul describes our sinful condition in Colossians 1:21, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” This is our fallen human nature. When the first man and woman disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden, they sinned, rebelling against God’s authority and trampling on God’s love. They declared war on God. In Ephesians 2, Paul describes our lost condition this way:
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. (Eph. 2:1-3).
In Romans 5:10, Paul says that “… when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son …” We were hostile to God, at enmity with Him. And nothing in us could ever change that.
But God was pleased through Christ to reconcile us anyway. This has always been the heart of God.
From the beginning, God has sought to reconcile men to Himself. After the first man’s and woman’s sin, God came seeking His rebellious children with the loving call, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). Jesus expressed this same attitude of reconciliation in His lament over Jerusalem as He approached His death, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). The message of the Bible is the message of a loving God who seeks and desires to save ruined sinners. Our Lord did not come in order that God might love men, but because God loved men![5]
What is the scope of this reconciliation? Paul says, “by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20). Some erroneously teach that “all things” in this verse means that all people and even all demonic forces will someday be saved. This is the false doctrine of universalism. But that contradicts many other Scriptures that clearly teach eternal torment in hell for the devil, his demons, and all who reject Christ (e.g., 2 Thess. 1:6-10; Matt. 25:41, 46; Rev. 20:10-15).
If universalism cannot be true, then in what sense does God reconcile all things to Himself? This points to the completeness of the plan of God in Christ. This will include the salvation of all who believe in Christ and the victory over all the enemies of Christ. We see how this works in Colossians 2:
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col. 2:13-15).
God reconciles believers in Christ by forgiving their trespasses through the death of Christ on the cross. God reconciles the forces of evil (principalities and powers) by disarming and triumphing over them at the cross. All things will be reconciled either by being saved by the cross of Jesus or defeated by the cross of Jesus.
God reconciling work therefore extends to all things. In Romans 8, Paul shows that when man’s redemption according to the divine program for the age is completed, then that redemption shall be extended to the physical creation. Just as sin and creation’s curse occurred in history, so shall redemption and creation’s deliverance occur in history. Listen to Romans 8,
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. (Rom. 8:18-23).
Christ’s victory on the cross was the decisive turning point of history. It guarantees that Satan and his forces are defeated (John 12:31). When Christ returns in His final victory over Satan and all sinners, He will restore both the earth and the heavens to their original glory.
How did God accomplish this reconciliation? In Christ. “By Him” is emphatic pointing to Jesus Christ as the sole agent of reconciliation. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul writes,
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19).
Reconciliation is “through Jesus Christ” because “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” This is why all the fullness dwelling in Christ is so essential. Reconciliation means the sinner, separated and alienated from God by the barrier of sin, death, and God’s holy character, can be restored to fellowship with a holy God through the redemptive work of Christ, “having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
God “made peace” through Christ. This is the work of God in Christ to remove the enmity and alienation that separated men from God. So as Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
At the cross, God accomplished the reconciliation of all things to Himself. It was the blood of Christ shed on the cross that purchased our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Man’s enmity was removed, taken away by the substitutionary death of Christ. God’s wrath was propitiated and His justice satistfied by the blood of Christ.
And this is what we celebrate as we come to the Lord’s Table today. The Lord’s Supper is a time for us to remember the death of Christ and what He accomplished by it on our behalf. By the blood of His cross, our sins our forgiven, the enmity is removed, and we have peace with God. This is true for all who have come to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God became a man, lived a perfect, sinless life, and shed His blood on the cross to reconcile people to God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ took our sin upon Himself and died for us so that we could be reconciled to God. So, the previous verse says, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20).
God has provided reconciliation through Christ. We receive it by God’s grace as a free gift when we repent and believe in His Son Jesus Christ. Do you believe that Jesus is the sinless Son of God in whom all the fullness dwells? Do you believe that He died on the cross for you? Do you believe that He rose from the grave on the third day and lives forever to give eternal life to all who believe? Trust in Christ today. I implore you. Be reconciled to God.
[1] S. Lewis Johnson, “Studies in the Epistle to the Colossians, Part I,” Bibliotheca Sacra (Dallas Theological Seminary, vol. 119, #474, April 62), 141. Referenced by J. Hampton Keathley III, https://bible.org/seriespage/supremacy-work-christ-part-1-plenitude-and-description-his-work-col-119-20#P984_303244.
[2] Bishop Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon [Zondervan], p. 159, 265. Quoted by Steven Cole, https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-5-christ-preeminent-over-all-colossians-115-20.
[3] CH Spurgeon, quoted on https://www.preceptaustin.org/colossians_115-29#1:19.
[4] J. Hampton Keathley III, https://bible.org/seriespage/supremacy-work-christ-part-1-plenitude-and-description-his-work-col-119-20#P984_303244.
[5] Johnson, 143-44.
