Colossians 1 - It's Not About You

Today, Monday May 3 It’s Not About You Colossians 1:18 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. The above verse is the key verse to the book of Colossians and gives us the theme for the whole book. This book was written by the Apostle Paul who was in prison in Rome, to the church in the city of Colossae. About five years had passed since Paul had been in Ephesus where he met Philemon and Epaphas, led them to faith in Christ and disciple them. No doubt Paul wrote this letter in response to a report he received from Epaphras about false teachers who had invaded the Colossian church teaching heresy that threatened its peace and purity. This heresy was a combination of Eastern philosophy and Jewish legalism, with elements of what Bible scholars call gnosticism (NOS-ti-cism). This term comes from the Greek word gnosis (KNOW-sis) which means “to know.” (An agnostic is one who does not know.) The false teachers in Colossae, like the false teachers of our own day, would not denythe importance of Jesus Christ. They would simply dethrone Him, giving Him prominence but not preeminence. In their philosophy, Jesus Christ was but one of many "emanations" that proceeded from God and through which men could reach God. It was this claim that Paul refuted in this letter. Many people today, like the false teachers at Colossae, will give Jesus Christ a place of eminence, but they will not give Him His rightful place of preeminence. He is not a “great man among great men”; He is God’s Son, preeminent in all things! Probably no passage in the New Testament contains more concentrated doctrine about Jesus Christ than this one. We can keep ourselves from going on a detour if we remember what Paul wrote to prove the preeminence of Christ in the first verses of this book. Today almost everything about our culture and philosophy of life is focused on “It’s all about me.” This attitude is reflected even in our churches, especially in many of our songs and most of our messages. As we study through this book, it is my prayer that we will surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and give Him the place of preeminence that is rightfully His in both our churches and in our lives! God bless!