The Supremacy of Christ
By James J. H. Price
Educational Ministry: Bible Discovery for Adults
(International Uniform Lesson)
June/August 2000: New Life In Christ
Unit III. Christ Above All
The Lesson for Aug. 6, 2000
Background Scripture and Lesson Focus: Colossians 1:15-28.
Colossians claims to have been written by an imprisoned Paul (1:1, 24; 4:3, 10, 18) to the church at Colossae. Stylistic, linguistic and theological considerations persuade many New Testament interpreters that the letter claims Pauline authorship in order to picture Paul as a respected Christian leader in prison authorizing others to communicate his concerns (see 1:24-29). If one assumes that the letter can relate a word of God only if Paul wrote it, we limit the power of God to speak through it and put God at the mercy of a particular human author.
Wisdom as a Way of Speaking of Christ
In the passage for study we focus on a hymn (1:15-20) which members of the church either sang or recited (cf. Philippians 2:6-11; 1 Peter 2:22-25; 1 Timothy 3:16). There is wide agreement among interpreters that these verses are a carefully crafted piece of poetry. Although the scholarly discussions on the structure of the hymn reveal diverse opinions, many still find appealing a division into two stanzas or verses. The first stanza (Colossians 1:15-18a) praises Christ as the "image" of God through whom the world was created. The second stanza (1:18b-20) presents the risen Christ as the bearer of the divine fullness whose redemption brings peace to the whole world. The way Christ is spoken about in the hymn reminds interpreters of the way wisdom is spoken about in the Old Testament and related writings.
One way early Christians talked about Christ was to draw on the fairly developed discussions in 1st century Judaism about personified Wisdom. Jesus is presented in the New Testament not only as a teacher of wisdom, but as the embodiment of divine wisdom. Both the Hebrew word (hokhmah) and the Greek word (sophia) for wisdom are feminine. Wisdom is presented as a person. She is a heavenly figure who lives in close union with God. She is depicted as a wife, a mother, a lover, a bride.
Wisdom or Sophia, however, is never an independent deity in the Hebrew or Jewish tradition. She is always the Wisdom/Sophia of God. Thus Jewish monotheistic faith never views Sophia as a rival or competitor of God. At times Sophia is viewed as created, but at other times she participates in creation. We should not think of wisdom as an independent divine being to be worshiped along the side of God, but as a personification of God.
The transcendent God who created the world is also the One who dwells in the world where women and men live. "Wisdom" was a way of pointing to God's nearness and involvement with the world while still insisting on the divine transcendence. It is indeed noteworthy that the early church took over this very complex wisdom tradition ‹ with its obvious feminine emphasis ‹ to speak of the male Jesus.
What the Colossians Sang When They Went to Church
The hymn alludes to the Christ as "the image of the invisible God" (1:15) and the first-born of all creation (Proverbs 8:22, 25). We tend to think of an image as related to God in the same way one thinks of a photograph as related to a person. But the person is not fully present in a photograph. When this hymn celebrates Christ as the "image of the invisible God," it affirms that Christ represents God in the world (cf. Genesis 1:26-27). God actually becomes present in Christ.
The phrase that Christ is "first-born of all creation" does not refer to his being the first created chronologically, but to his superiority over all creation. In the Greek translation of Psalm 88:28, after asserting that God makes the king the "first-born," the Psalmist offers a commentary on the meaning of the term in the following clause: "higher than the kings of the Earth."
"First-born" designates special honor (cf. Genesis 27:19, 28-29). Yet it also reflects the discussion of Wisdom as both the first created and the agency of creation (e.g., Proverbs 8:22-31). Thus 1:16 proclaims that all things, including the cosmic powers and principalities which inhabit the heavenly realms, have been created through and for Christ.
The hymn used by the author of Colossians seems originally to have spoken of Christ as the head or lord of the cosmos which might have been understood in a pantheistic way. By the addition of "church," the author of Colossians affirms that Christ is recognized as Lord in the church. The author declares that Christ who is lord of the "rulers and powers" (1:16) exercises his rule over the entire cosmos in the church. Thus the church testifies to Christ's cosmic victory by its life and proclamation. The church is able to be that place where the experiences of alienation, despair, prejudice and hopelessness can be overcome.
The readers are reminded that while the cosmic lordship of Christ is not fully evident in the world, one must trust a God who has not yet completed the final sentence of the human story. But the church provides the "previews of coming attractions" when its worship and life eliminate the barriers which separate and demean any of God's creatures.
The second stanza celebrates the dawn of God's salvation in the resurrection of Christ which reconciles the whole universe (1:18b-20). Christ is referred to as "the beginning" (1:18b) not only in temporal sense, but as the one who "begins" the new creation (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26; Romans 4:17; 8:38). For many readers of Colossians the world was an unstable place and Christ restores order and stability to this world by "making peace" (1:20). This peace has been established by the death of Christ on the cross. This emphasis on the cross reminds us that the resurrected One is also the crucified One who was executed for actions against the state (1:20: "by making peace through the blood of his cross").
The application of the hymn to the readers in 1:22-23 indicates that the message of this hymn was liberating news of reconciliation for people. The chapter closes with a reference to Paul's ministry to the Gentiles (1:24-25) and a summary of his core convictions of the divine purpose of salvation (1:26-28). Many of the readers of Colossians were subject to powers that act capriciously and without mercy.
When early Christians sang a hymn like Colossians 1:15-20 they praised Christ as the agent of creation who had both created and dominated the "powers" and as the one who brings peace to the whole world. When they sang they were affirming the creatureliness of the powers which people feared. This hymn celebrates that this world is in the hands of Jesus Christ, the crucified but risen Lord in whom "all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on Earth or in Heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross" (1:19-20).
For discussion: List some of hymns we sing in worship which in a way similar to the hymn in Colossians celebrate the Lordship of Christ over every influence that would control and demean life?
James J. H. Price is professor of religious studies, Lynchburg College (Va.).
Lesson theme and Scripture copyrighted by the Division of Education, National Council of Churches. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted.
Back to Bible Studies
Top
