THE COSMIC CHRIST
Colossians 1:15-17
Text Introduction: This morning we are looking at the first stanza of what may have been a hymn about Christ. It would have helped the Colossians who were facing that crisis of confidence see Christ in a new way. It can do the same for us.
**********
One of my favorite characters in church history is a fourth-century bishop named Athanasius. You'll often hear him quoted at Christmas: "The Son of God became a man so men might become sons of God."
And, you'll often hear him mentioned in connection with another bishop, Arius. Arius was an extremely popular preacher and teacher. His teachings were embraced by many church leaders and, in time, by one of the church's newest and most prominent members.
Early in the fourth-century the church was just becoming accustomed to a "Christian" Emperor on the throne, Constantine. Most of the emperor's advisors were disciples of Arius and they promoted their favorite teacher with enthusiasm. Consequently, even though he was hardly qualified to make such a judgment, Constantine decided that all Christians should accept Arius' teachings.
It's at this point that Athanasius enters the picture. You see, he didn't care much for Arius and his teaching. And he didn't keep quiet about it.
In time, Athanasius was called to task for his opposition to the popular teacher. In fact, he was called to a major council of church leaders to defend himself. During the debate the emperor's representative shouted at the North African bishop: "Athanasius, the whole world is against you."
Athanasius replied, "Then it is Athanasius against the world."
Interestingly, Arius and his teachings would be condemned as heretical. But before that Athanasius would spend a total of seventeen years in exile from his church.
What did Arius, the popular preacher, say that made Athanasius such an opponent? Without going into all the details, Arius said that Jesus Christ was a created being, not the eternal Son of God.
The debate between Athanasius and Arius revolved around the question, Who is this Jesus Christ? It's a question which has been asked again and again in the history of the church. It's being asked in our century. And, it was asked in the first century.
Paul knew the crisis of confidence being faced by the believers in the Colossian church was directly related to how they were answering the question.
Paul's answer is found, in part, in the majestic words of this text. There’s a good chance it’s part of an early Christian hymn, perhaps composed by Paul. In any case, what he has to say is pivotal to our understanding of Jesus Christ.
To those familiar only with the wonderful stories of Jesus from the four Gospels, what Paul has to say may sound strange, even hard to conceive. In fact, if you feel you do understand all Paul is saying, maybe you belong behind the pulpit this morning.
We won't exhaust the meaning of this passage but we will come away with a greater understanding of the Cosmic Christ and what he is doing behind the scenes.
I
THE IDENTITY OF THE COSMIC CHRIST
"He is the image of the invisible God..."
Paul begins with a defining declaration of who Christ is. In a sense, the rest is elaboration on this statement.
The notion of the incarnation is at the heart of this statement. In fact, 20th Century New Testament renders it as "He is the very incarnation of God..," while J. B. Phillips translates it as "the visible expression of the invisible God." When you compare what Paul says with such statements as John 1:14 which describes Christ as "The Word became flesh..." and Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, "He is the reflection of God's glory, the flawless expression of the nature of God," this short but profound statement confirms the truth that if you want to know what God is like, you should look at Jesus.
The implication of this thought is unique in religion. Yes, some of the Roman myths occasionaIy told of the gods visiting earth disguised as men, but those myths contained nothing like this.
Shirley Guthrie helps us understand this when he writes:
"He is not like a king who preserves his majesty and honor only by shutting himself up in the splendor of his palace, safely isolated from the misery of the poor peasants and the threat of his enemies outside the fortress. His majesty is the majesty of a love so great that he leaves the palace and his royal trappings to live among his subjects as one of them, sharing their condition even at the risk of vulnerability to the attack of his enemies. If we want to find this king, we will find him among the weak and lowly, his genuine majesty both revealed and hidden in his choosing to share their vulnerability, suffering, and guilt and powerlessness."
We’ve shown some of you—or perhaps inflicted upon some of you—pictures of our grandson Kieran. Those pictures depict him as tiny, helpless, utterly dependent upon David and Kelly. The doctrine of the Incarnation tells us that God once allowed himself to be in just that position.
The funny thing is some have looked at the incarnation with revulsion. They tell us that it is obscene to imagine God condescending to become one of us. There are hints of this kind of thinking at Colossae, part of the litany of the false teachers whose efforts had eroded the confidence of the Colossian Christians. Even today the very idea of God becoming truly human forms one of the greatest objections to Christianity voiced by Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, not to mention the Jews.
These religions reject the doctrine of the Incarnation because it either affirms the doctrine of the Trinity or it denies the dualism which says that the material is intrinsically evil. They miss the picture of God casting his lot with us, of the Almighty infiltrating our world in order to overthrow the evil one who held us imprisoned in the kingdom of darkness.
II
THE ACTIVITY OF THE COSMIC CHRIST
"For by him all things were created...
all things were created by him...
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together...
In saying, "He is before all things" Paul once again takes us into a realm which is potentially unfamiliar—the preexistence of Christ. There are two reasons for this.
While we are familiar with the story of Christ's birth, an event so significant that we Christians divide history into two great periods: that before his birth and that after his birth, we have a hard time imagining his activity before that moment. Some Christians might even be surprised to know that Christianity insists that He whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth existed before the creation.
Then, we are unfamiliar with this notion because we seldom talk much anymore about the Trinity. Perhaps because it is such a challenging concept—this assertion that God is “One in
Three Persons”—we avoid it altogether.
Three Persons”—we avoid it altogether.
Robert Lightner offers a summary of what we mean when we speak of the preexistence of Christ.
"Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived before He was conceived. This is true because He is the God-man.... He is the most unique person who ever lived or ever shall live. Personhood begins for all other humans at conception. But the second person of the Godhead [Trinity] existed eternally. Mary's conception of the son of God has nothing whatsoever to do with His origin. He always existed. There was never a 'time' in eternity past when He was not. The Savior's personal existence was not marked by a beginning."
When we speak of Christ's preexistence we are really saying, "Christ is just like God— eternal." We would expect this of one described as "the exact image of God."
In the same breath Paul uses to assert the preexistence of Christ, he invites us to consider the activity of this Cosmic Christ—this One who existed outside of time as we know it.
We need to look at his past activity. Just so we don't miss it, Paul repeats himself. "For by him all things were created... all things were created by him..."
A review of the Scripture on the subject reveals each Person of the Trinity involved in the work of Creation. The New Testament particularly focuses on Christ's role in Creation.
The prologue to John's Gospel says, "No single thing was created without him" (NEB).
The writer of Hebrews also sees Christ's involvement in Creation: In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days be has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.... (HEB 1:1-2)
As the Agent by whom all things were created it is impossible for him to have been a creature himself. At the same time, Paul says Christ is the Creator of "things in heaven and on earth." On the one hand, this is a way of saying "everything"; on the other hand, Paul is stressing that Christ is the one Creator of all. There were not two creators, one for spiritual things, one for material things. The worlds are linked because they were made by the same hand. Some of the false teachers may have been trying to call the Colossians to an ascetic lifestyle—one which promises a super-spirituality to those who will abandon even basic material needs. Paul will address their many rules in chapter two.
Whatever may have led Paul to his inspired redundancy, it's clear the role played by the Cosmic Christ forbids the kind of dualism which has gripped the hearts of some believers. They are convinced that any involvement in the material world is wrong. Jesus will call his disciples to avoid materialism but he never says we should have disdain for the world around us. Remember, Jesus and his followers were often accused of being what some might call party animals. By his example, Jesus showed us there is much in life-to enjoy. Our Lord is the Creator of the Universe and we are wrong to treat the world with disregard, to say "this world is not my home." Because, by God's will, it is.
At the same time it is proper to be concerned about ecological issues, about beauty, about the nature of the world. Our Lord is the Creator of the Universe and we are right to study his handiwork.
By recalling his past activities, Paul revealed the Cosmic Christ as the Creator, but he also reminds us to look at his present activity. Paul says, "in him all things hold together.' The words suggest the idea of cohesion, of keeping things in order.
This sermon was essentially complete before Friday’s earthquake in Japan. But I felt those events begged the question: How does what Paul says relate to earthquakes and tsunamis? Paul would not have known about plate tectonics or the theory that the moving of these plates somehow recharges our atmosphere and makes life possible. But Paul would have known about earthquakes. Paul’s world was earthquake prone. What would Paul have said to any Christian survivors of the earthquake that would destroy Colossae in the mid-sixties? Remember, some might have heard these words the very first time they were read to a Christian congregation. So, what would Paul have said?
--He would have probably said, “Don’t make assumptions. We don’t know why this happened.” We would be wise to take the same advice. Japan is a secular culture but is it more so than some in Europe? Don’t assume the Japanese “deserved” this. Don’t assume God has lost control.
--He might have said, “This world is marred by sin. It will one day be remade."
--He would have probably said, “Stay confident in Christ.”
Paul is reminding the Colossians that Christ's activity in the physical world did not end with Creation. He holds all things together. As translated by Weymouth: "in and though Him the universe is one harmonious whole." And keeping things harmonious does not mean keeping things static.
Even the proponents of the so-called "chaos theory" say that apparent chaotic behavior may have an order we simply don't see.
We are like a person observing a square dance from a position near the floor. As we watch the blur of moving feet we get the feeling that we are observing chaos. But, if we can change our perspective and somehow look down on the dancers, we will see there is a pattern, an order determined by the caller. The universe moves in an order called by the Cosmic Christ.
Eugene Cernan saw our world from a perspective none of us have ever had, he saw it while standing on the Moon. With evident wonder he said, "Our world is big and beautiful, all blue and white! You can see from the Antarctic to the North Pole. The earth looks so perfect. There are no strings to hold it up there is no fulcrum upon which it rests." Countless worlds spinning in harmony, comets blazing trails across the expanse of space, one star dying while another is born, all of this is under the sway of the One who walked the dusty roads of Palestine, the One who died on the cross for our salvation.
Sometimes you may feel your world is coming apart. You may feel all is out of order, chaos. Remember you belong to the One who holds all things together. Remember your perspective is limited, you can’t see the pattern in the dance, the pattern being created by the Divine Caller.
When we see the power and authority of our Savior can we doubt his ability to redeem us, to keep us? When we look into the nighttime sky, any crisis of confidence should be allayed. As we examine Paul’s praise-filled note we also need to look at the...
III
THE AUTHORITY OF THE COSMIC CHRIST
COL 1:15 He is ... the firstborn over all
creation. [16] For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
We don't know as much as we would like to know about the ideas which were unnerving some of the Colossian Christians, causing them to have a crisis of confidence. It seems that some of the teachers of these new ideas were promoting a fascination with angels, an obsession with them. This obsession was so great that a few seemed to have believed that if they could just get a glimpse of the angels in heaven, they would take a giant step toward real spirituality. In the process the centrality of Christ was lost. Some may have even come to wonder if Christ was inferior to these angels.
Paul answers those doubts and more.
1) He describes the Cosmic Christ as "the firstborn over all creation." The term has less to do with order of birth as status.
In Jewish family law "Firstborn" speaks of rights of inheritance and authority. Remember when Esau sold his rights as firstborn to his younger twin Jacob for a bowl of stew? That foolish act was significant because it gave the rights of the firstborn to one who wasn't firstborn. Of course, what Paul has already said rules out the notion of the Second Person of the Trinity being "born." Paul uses the term to underscore Christ's authority. The New English Bible captures this when it translates the phrase as "his is the primacy over all created things."
Some of the rabbis described the Messiah as the "firstborn" because he would have authority over Israel and Israel would be dependent upon him.
When Paul refers to the Cosmic Christ as the "firstborn over all creation" he is speaking of his authority over every created thing and of creation's dependence upon Christ.
2) Paul reveals the scope of Christ's authority. When Paul said that Christ had created all things he could have allowed that statement to say it all, but he chose to drive the point home by enumerating the product of Christ's creative activity. In so doing he also shows the scope of Christ's authority.
à He is the Creator of the "visible and invisible," Christ is the creator of all things, those we can see with our ordinary vision and those which are not seen. This refers spiritual beings which are ordinarily out of sight in the spiritual realm.
àHe is the Creator of "thrones or powers or rulers or authorities" This modifies "visible and invisible" and seems to refer to authorities, both earthly and spiritual.
On the one hand, the statement suggests the existence of an ordered world beyond our everyday experience. The Living Bible renders this as "the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities."
Paul refers to this spirit realm in speaking to the Ephesians (6:12). Peter also refers to the heavenly hierarchy when he speaks of "Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him." (1 Peter 3:21-22)
Granted that the Bible speaks of hierarchy within the ranks of the angels, does this imply the elaborate organization which Paul seems to envision? Could it be that Paul is simply using the world-picture commonly embraced in those days to stress Christ's universal sovereignty? Using it but not endorsing it? We can't really say.
Paul doesn’t explain all he may have in mind here. What is clear is the fact that our proper focus is not these angelic beings but the one who has authority over them—Jesus Christ.
Of course, Paul's words also include earthly rulers. This reflects the Old Testament insistence that earthly rulers, in Israel and elsewhere, ruled at Yahweh's sufferance. The prophets even spoke of mighty pagan kings being the agents of tiny Israel's God.
In light of Christ’s authority in Creation, David Garland says, "The universe is not self- sufficient (as in the deist model), nor are individuals, no matter how much they may deceive themselves into thinking they are. Even those who do not acknowledge Christ's reign and those who actively oppose him are entirely dependent on him."
As we watch nations rise up and overthrow long-entrenched rulers, as we hear whispers of civil war by the disgruntled around us, what should we feel and think? Paul would have us remember there is a Ruler above all other rulers. Did Paul foresee the violent crusade against Christianity which Rome would soon initiate? Perhaps he sensed he would not be the last Christian to wear chains and suffer for the faith. If so, did he wish to underscore the reality that Rome's power was only as great as God allowed it to be? It would have bolstered the confidence of a worried church.
In Paul's summary statement a new note is added, "all things were created... for him." Again, the Living Bible directly addresses the issue, "for his use and glory."
"The earth is the Lord's," the psalmist tells us. Now Paul tells us much the same. There is a foundation for a Christian ecology, not based in our kinship with the world (the earth as our mother would have inflamed the Biblical writers), but upon the fact that we are stewards of Another's property.
More than this, Paul's words about Christ's authority remind us that Christ's purposes will ultimately be accomplished even in a world which is in rebellion against his rule. MacDonald speaks to this situation.
"Maybe history does not readily show itself to be controlled by a divine purpose. It looks as if it were all at loose ends—just a random collection of unconnected events. But that is not to see the reality of history from the standpoint of Christ's preeminence. For the movements of historical events are held together by his strong hand."
CONCLUSION
The Gospels are records of Christ's earthly ministry. We study them to learn about him. Paul's hymn of praise is a record of Christ's ministry behind the scenes.
It tells us that we don't live in a God-forsaken world. He who brought the world into existence is involved in every rising and falling of the tides, every rising and falling of governments. He knows our fears and our dreams, our disappointments and our smallest victory.
It tells us we ought to be confident in this Savior who can keep the stars and planets in balance. If he can do that, he can bring order to the chaos of our lives.
It tells us the proper response to this Cosmic Christ is submission and praise.
