At this point. I think Paul cannot help himself. As he talks about the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus, he pauses to sing a song. about Christ Jesus. Our theology should lead to doxology, the worship and praise of God.
We see this modeled for us in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Welcome to this Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we conclude several days in Joel Kim's new series, Everything in Christ. You can continue your time in the Book of Colossians when you request complete access to the series and study guide at renewingyourmind.org. Simply give a donation before this offer ends at midnight and we'll unlock these resources for you in the free Ligonier app. Still in Colossians chapter 1.
For the final time, Here's Joel Kim. As I mentioned in a previous lesson, I grew up in a pastor's family. and we often would get together for evening family worship. I'm one of five kids, so there are lots of people in the room, even if it's just my family. And we would sing a song, usually a hymn.
And oftentimes the requirement was not about the tune nor the beat. But as loud as you can, you must sing, was the unwritten rule in our family. And so we found ourselves singing together a lot, not a von Trapp family by any means, but at the same time, enjoying the singing, the gift that the Lord has given to us. There was one time we were driving into a national park called the Zion National Park and seeing these rock mountains. My mom and dad started singing, Oh Lord My God.
when I in awesome wonder, I wonder if you sometimes feel like that when you understand something anew. understand the depth and richness of something, you cannot help. but to sing. And we see that in the New Testament a number of times. In this section, as we look at Colossians 1:13 through 23, we come to recognize that Paul, as he's explicating these truths about the gospel and the Christ at the center of that gospel, it leads him.
to a song. It's indeed a theology that sings. In some ways, because he cannot help himself but to recognize the Lord by singing a song about the greatness of Christ Jesus. The surrounding section is simply again concluding our introductory part of Colossians about thinking about all those things that he's thankful for. As we said previously, he is very thankful and thankfulness is found throughout the book of Colossians.
Paul re-emphasizes that the life lived worthy of the Lord will be marked by thankfulness and joy. Thankfulness to God for all that he has done for believers in Christ is clearly one of the most essential Christian qualities for Paul. And this is why he begins with thanks and then he continues with thanks throughout the book of Colossians. Verse 7, chapter 2, abounding in thanksgiving. Chapter 3, verse 15, and be thankful.
Chapter 3:17, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Chapter 4, verse 2, continue steadfastly in prayer. With Thanksgiving. It is worth noting that one of the qualities of the false religion that he's going to come back to over and over again is this sense of asceticism. beating down the body and the desires.
But instead, Paul says, you ought to be joyful and thankful. And there should be no short supply of reasons for thankfulness before the Lord. And as he ends this introductory prayer with thanks, what does he thank for? We said in the previous lesson, he talks about the thankfulness for the Colossian church. But as he ends this section in prayer and blessings, and with words of thankfulness, this is what he says in verse 12.
Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and light? He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness. of sins. As he's thankful for the Colossians, As he is thankful for the work of the gospel taking place throughout the global church. As he's thankful for the growth of grace taking place in the individual lives in the Colossian church, he turns to the very thing that is at the heart.
of this gospel being proclaimed. He says, we have received Inheritance. By God. God has qualified the believers to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Both the word share and inheritance are often used together in the Old Testament.
With reference to the Israelites and the Old Testament believers receiving the land. Many of them were hoping for the inheritance that God has provided for them, the promised land flowing with milk and honey. And it's often identified together that God's people will receive this land. But God, as the source of salvation, is in view here in Paul's writing as the portion of people's inheritance. In other words, more than the land anticipated, because this is not what Paul is speaking about, the people of God now belong to God and receive Him.
we are told. And we see the change of this spiritual inheritance of our God in places like Psalm 16, 5. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. The psalmist says. He then goes on to say in Psalm 73, whom have I in heaven?
But you. There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Here in Christ Jesus, we have received the Father. We have received God.
And here in Christ Jesus, he further goes on to say, he has saved us in his Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. And the description he gives us is that God has transferred his people. From a domain of darkness. Into the kingdom of his son. Notice that Paul switches from the second to the first person here, giving thanks to the Father, verse 12 says, who qualified you, second person.
So he's talking about them. To share in the inheritance of the saints and light. But yet, notice the switch he makes here in terms of personal pronouns. He has delivered us. Paul is not separating himself from the Colossians.
They're one and the same. They're the recipients of this amazing grace that God has given to us in Christ Jesus.
So in a subtle but certain way, he reminds us that it's not just about them. But it's about All of us. I love babies. I love holding them. I love to make them laugh as much as I can.
Many babies are beautiful. They're incredibly smart. But they're in no comparison when it comes to beauty compared to my children. They may be very smart, but my kids, when they were babies, they were geniuses. My guess is that every parent would say that of their own kids.
Why? Because they're mine. And here, what's being emphasized is that this is not an esoteric doctrine of soteriology that Paul is imparting to us, it's about. us receiving Christ Jesus. And here, you and I, you and I are part of this grand story taking place.
And what's taking place is that here, God has delivered us. This word deliverance is often a terminology used to indicate Israel's salvation from the Egyptians prior to the possession of the land as an inheritance. Paul now emphasizes that a cause for joyful thanksgiving is God's new rescue. His rescue plan has been completed in Christ Jesus our Lord and delivered us. You and me.
From the dominion of darkness, that is, a dominion, a place characterized by darkness, and changed us. Transferred us, removed us, and placed us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Kingdom over which His Son Christ Jesus now rules and reigns. We do not belong to the darkness anymore. We do not belong to sin anymore.
We ought not to be led astray by the teachings that are false, untruth. For we now find ourselves in the place where Christ is. Fullness of light that has been brought to us in Christ Jesus our Lord, with the light that shines upon the truth and wisdom that only He can give to us. He has delivered us and therefore redeemed us in Christ Jesus. This is a rare word here, used only once in the Old Testament, but a verb that indicates the divine act of liberating his people.
who were once captured. And the description of this liberation? Is the bondage of sin as he says? We have received the forgiveness of sins. Helping us to understand better that the believers have been released from their sins.
Through Christ Jesus. our Lord. This is what he gives us As a reminder of the subject of our things, not only that we as church and Colosse are together growing in grace, but this gospel of grace has been given to us. And this is the gospel that benefits us. in the sense that we have been delivered from the domain of darkness.
Transferred us into the kingdom of His Son, and now we have received. Forgiveness. forgiveness, redemption from sin. At this point, I think Paul cannot help himself. As he's talking about Christ Jesus and what he has done.
As he reminds us of what God is doing in our lives, he kind of pauses here a little bit. In fact, the pause is interesting because the way English has it, the translations make it seem like that this is a nicely divided paragraph here, where the song actually begins. No, no, he almost begins immediately with a dependent clause: in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, who is? And then he picks up in verse 15 to remind us of the song that we are now about to read in verses 15 through 20.
Sometimes his songs are short. We call them doxologies in places like chapter 1 of 1 Timothy. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. We lift up our praises.
But sometimes the hymn is all Full orbed, as we see here in Colossians 1, he that is Christ. 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. 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. As he talks about the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus, he pauses.
To sing a song. about Christ Jesus. This song is divided into three parts, as argued by most. That is, its first structure is found when we see verses fifteen through sixteen and the first half of verse seventeen. And then it picks up again when we come to recognize verse 18 till the end of the song is the second part.
But the pivot But the pivot, the central part of the song that ties everything together is the second part of this song in verse 17 in the second half where it says, and all things continue to exist in him, we are told. Here, he goes on to say in the second verse, in him. All things hold together. Here, he's talking about the salvation that comes in Christ Jesus. And in this song, at the center, And the central part or the pinnacle of the song is to simply remind us that Christ.
is our all in all. Recognizing there is no one nothing else that we ought to turn to. In the first half, Of this song in verses 15 and 16, we are told that Jesus makes the invisible. Visible. John tells us that no one has ever seen God.
But yet when Christ came, he made God visible, is what John taught us in chapter 1. Paul is reminding us of that fact. God cannot be seen, but God is now shown to us. And reveal to us in the Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Here, we are told that He is the image of the invisible God, and He is the One who comes to display the glory as well as the majesty of His Father in heaven.
At the same time, we are told that Christ Jesus is the preeminent one over creation. Not as the firstborn to indicate as if he is a creature. This is where some of the debates of the early churches have taken place over and over again. But as one of the founders and fathers of the church, Athanasius reminds us: not then because he was from the father, was he called the firstborn. This is where the Nicene Creed is so helpful for us in reminding us that he is not the first of the creatures, but that what he is intending to say, if then the word also were one of the creatures, scriptures would have said so.
But in fact, the same saying that he is the firstborn of the whole creation demonstrates that the Son of God is other than the whole creation and not of a creature. He is called the firstborn among many brothers because of the relationship of the flesh, and the firstborn from the dead because the resurrection of the dead is from him and after him. He declares. He is not only the one who makes God visible, he is the firstborn over all creatures, we are told, and we are organically tied to him as our representative. And here what we are to understand in this creation and Christ Jesus is the fact that he is ultimately supreme over all things.
He is supreme because He is the one who created it. This is the point that Paul seems to emphasize over and over again, that by him all things were created. Note what he says. It's the universal, isn't it? That all things were created through him.
And there's this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chiasm is just simply a literary device that divides things into an A. B, B, and an A.
So it's almost like a little keyhole that gets at the heart of what you're trying to say when it tells us that heaven. Which is invisible has been created by Jesus Christ. And then Earth. which is visible has been created by Christ Jesus. And then he goes on to list out all those things, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, we are told all things were created through him.
and for him Paul repeats the role of Christ in creation by asserting again and again and again and again. that Jesus stands as the Creator of all things. But it's not only that he talks about Jesus as the creator of all things, we are also told that Jesus is the recreator of all things. And this is the point in verses 18 and following. He is the head of the body.
What is the body? The church. He's the beginning. The firstborn from the dead. Note the creational language in comparison with the previous section, that in everything he might be preeminent.
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 cross. This is where Christ is exalted on high by Paul. The song speaks of the preeminence of Christ Jesus in salvation. This is the contrast between what he said earlier: that God in Christ Jesus is preeminent over all creation because he created all things. Here, Christ Jesus is the Redeemer who redeems all.
And he is the firstborn from the dead, we are told. He is ranked supreme among those who died and will be resurrected. And this is the point that Romans 8:29 seems to make when Paul declares, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn. Among many brothers. And then, in fact, 1 Corinthians, where the resurrection is spoken of, says the same thing when he says, But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
The first fruits. Same idea here of those who have fallen asleep, but each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ Jesus. That is, Christ Jesus, who died and rose again. In him you too and I also have died and rose along with him in union with Christ Jesus. What this means is that when we say Christ Jesus is preeminent over all, Once we know and believe, and historically true that Christ Jesus died and in three days rose again.
You and I You and I Are organically, inseparably tied to Jesus' resurrection. If we believe that Jesus Christ has rose again from the dead, It means that one day, One day, you and I, along with him, and this is the guarantee that Paul tries to remind us of. that one day we too will rise along with him. from the dead. He is preeminent.
over those who have come to this new life. We are told in this song. The basis of this Christ's preeminence is because God in Christ Jesus has sent him to save his people, creating this church. And ultimately, as a result, he is the one in whom the fullness of God resides. The culmination of the Psalms' discussion of Christ's preeminence focuses on what Jesus Christ did in his redemption.
Note what he says in verse 20 in particular. And through Christ to reconcile himself. All things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Here, the reminder by Paul through the song is that Christ is the one who saves, and the way He saves is by His death on the cross, and His death reconciles us. heals the brokenness.
between his people and God, where sin had gotten in the way of the relationship. Christ stands as the preeminent over his creation. Christ stands as the preeminent Lord over his redemption as well. This is why Paul comes to conclude simply in the middle portion of his song, simply saying, in him all things hold together. The central pivot of the hymn is found here, both in the sphere of creation.
And the sphere of recreation, all things find their unity in Christ Jesus. This means that Christ is the means and the goal of creation. Christ is the means and goal of recreation. All things belong to Him and all things to turn. to him.
This is where the beauty of this song comes out. As he talks about the thankfulness that he has in the reconciliation that we have received in the Son. Paul cannot help. But to pause. and lift up a song.
A song of praise that sings the Lordship of Christ Jesus and how He is supreme over. all things. Here In one of the written books by B.B. Warfield, one of the great theologians of the 19th century, he talks about the importance for pastors and seminarians tying together both theology and worship in a manner that helps us to balance the two. And the question he asks, can a religious man stand in the presence of God and not worship?
He answers by saying, you will never prosper in your religious life. in a seminary or in the Christian life until your work in theological studies becomes itself to you a religious exercise. out of which you draw everyday enlargement of heart, elevation of spirit, an adoring delight. In your maker. and your Savior.
And Paul. leads us to that adoration. in the song. That is certainly our desire and prayer here: that as your mind is increasingly renewed. your adoration for the Lord would only increase.
This is the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. You just heard a message from Joel Kim's brand new series in Colossians: Everything in Christ. Finish your time in Colossians when you request lifetime digital access along with the study guide when you make a donation at Renewing Your Mind.
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