Jesus is perfect and adequate for us and everything we need can be found in him. We need not worry about now or the future. He is eternal in nature. He existed before the world was formed and he will be alive, seated at the right hand of the Father when the world comes to an end.
To many, seeing Jesus as a deity is just a fallacy. They think he is only prominent and popular, but he is not really pre-eminent. Mysticism, legalism, Eastern religion, asceticism and other man-made religions and human philosophies have crept into the church. With these in our world today, the original truth of the deity of Jesus Christ has been diluted and this has brought confusion and manipulation in the minds of a significant number of Christians who are either just new converts and even those who are already growing their root into the truth of the gospel. The main downside of this confusion and the damage that is causing could be traced to the reduction of the rate at which the gospel is growing.
With any contrary belief against the identity of Jesus as God, more confusion is thrown into the world and these are just based on human knowledge. The knowledge which has been given to man by God himself, but this is being used to play down on the truth of the gospel.
Christ is being denied of his rightful position, and he is being robbed of his place of Pre-eminence. The Apostle Paul, in his letter written to the Colossians, wants us to know that Jesus is at the centre of all we do in the church, at home, in our culture, our society, and anywhere we find ourselves. What the knowledge of a man speaks of about Jesus does not matter if it is contrary to the above truth. Paul highlighted this truth in Colossians; the magnificence of Jesus and his works.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:15-18)
The Standard Remains
Paul addresses the problems of other beliefs contrary to the truth about the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ and his position as God. There were some believers in the Nastic philosophy with the belief that matter was evil and spirit was good, putting the body under submission – this was evil and the Apostle Paul addressed this in Colossians 2:20 “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,”. There was also a belief in the Contemporary Jewish Legalism with the belief that it does not matter what you do with your body – fall into any form of sinful behaviour, fornicate, put marks on your body. It is very crucial to take note that all these are really trending today in our world and the good news needs to be preached to the world with a sound knowledge of who Jesus is, and putting him in his place as the Author of life and every activity here on earth and even in heaven.
He is pre-eminent. Paul then reacted to the whole matter in this in this manner in Colossians 1:26-27;
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The Sovereignty of Christ
Jesus Christ is sovereign and sufficient for us as Christians. We do not need more or less, as Jesus is perfect and adequate for us and everything we need can be found in him. We need not worry about now or the future. He is eternal in nature. He existed before the world was formed and he will be alive seated by the right hand of the Father when the world comes to an end. The gospel of John recorded – John 1:1-3; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
While Paul prayed for the Colossians (1:9-14), he focused his prayer on the church having a better knowledge of Christ, as this would automatically help them to grow in bearing fruits in every good work, increase in the knowledge of God, strengthened in all might, living in thankfulness, and believing that deliverance and forgiveness could only be traced to the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross of Calvary. Colossians 1:9; “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding”.
Excerpts from Doctoral Thesis (Christology) by Ayodele Afuye [December 2019]
