Colossians 1:15-23

 Colossians 1 continues with Paul talking about the preeminence of Christ.  He is the image of the invisible God.  This is huge in my opinion.  There is so much about God we can’t know.  We can’t see Him, we can’t physically touch Him.  Christ was the image of the invisible God.  Who Christ touched, God touched.  What Christ said, God said.  Jesus Christ is our physical example of the character of God.  By Christ, everything was created.  Everything includes things on Earth and in heaven, things visible and things invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  This implies that there is a vast spiritual world out there which was also created by Christ.  Sometimes I wonder what this world is like.  Christ is before all things and in Him all things hold together.  He is the head of the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.  This passage emphasizes the importance of Christ.  It explains how He was from the beginning and controls everything.  In fact, creation exists because of Christ and for Christ.  I think the name Paul has for Christ, the firstborn from the dead, is interesting.  We think of Christ being the only son of God.  We don’t think of him as being the firstborn from the dead.  This implies that there will be others bon from the dead.  Christ had to be raised from the dead in order for us to be raised from the dead.  Paul says the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ and through Him, to reconcile all things on heaven and earth to Himself.  When I first read this I wonder what in heaven had to be reconciled.  The thought I have on this is that nothing in heaven had to necessarily be wrong.  Creation was unable to reconcile itself with heaven.  Christ came to Earth and was fully man and reconciled us to Him.  He was also fully God and as such heaven was also reconciled to Him.  So through Christ all things were reconciled to Him.  Through Him we have access to God.  Paul continues to say that we who were once alienated are now reconciled in His body through His human body and human death.  We are reconciled so He can present us as holy and beyond reproach.  This comes with a condition though.  We must continue in the faith, stable and steadfast.  We can’t shift from the hope of the gospel, which has been proclaimed in all creation.  Not only does Paul say that the gospel has been proclaimed in all creation, which is significant, he also says we must not shift from that hope.  Does this mean it is possible to lose our reconciliation?  I honestly don’t know.  My personal belief is that we cannot, but passages like this don’t sit quite right with me.  Anyway, these are my thoughts.  Whether they are right or not I don’t know.  I just hope I don’t lead anyone in the wrong direction who reads this!