Who is the Christ of Christmas?
The Preeminent Lord
Colossians 1:15-20
Today we are going to begin a sermon series from three of the four great Christological passages of the NT. In this series, it is our objective to answer the following question: who is the Christ of Christmas? With the Christmas season approaching, this is an important question. As Christians, we need to know who Christ is.
Jesus Himself posed this question to his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and “who do you say that I am?” Evidently, this question is an important one that needs to be asked today: who is the Christ of Christmas?
• Peter A. Brien, Professor of English at Dartmouth and translator of “The Last Temptation of Christ”:
I don’t think we know who Jesus was. The Gospels, which were written for political purposes--to convert people--are written after the fact. Mary? Well, obviously he had a mother, so it had to be somebody--her name doesn’t matter. What difference does it make? The Gospel writers were novelists, writing a story about a child who really was born, but, more important, a story with a message worth hearing. I realize much of what we know about Jesus is novelistic. But I act as if it isn’t.
• John Murray, President of American Atheists:
There was no such person in the history of the world as Jesus Christ. There was no historical, living, breathing, human being by that name. Ever. The Bible is a fictional, non-historical narrative. The myth is good for business.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and Unitarian:
Jesus was a spiritualist, one deeply in touch with his “over soul.” He thought Jesus divine precisely to the extent that we are divine. The difference being: Jesus recognized it, and most of the rest of us don’t.
Others view Jesus as a great teacher or prophet or sage (such as Socrates). So the question remains, who is the Christ of Christmas? Who is that babe in the manger?
I am afraid that few believers move beyond the nativity scene image of Jesus, i.e., the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. I pray that thru this series of sermons, we will move beyond the mere image of a nursing Child in Bethlehem and truly begin to understand who the Christ of Christmas is.
For our investigation, I have selected 3 of the 4 texts that define most clearly who Christ is. The fourth great Christological passage, John 1:1-14 which we covered in our John series, informs us that Christ is the Incarnate Word, the eternal God made flesh. This week, we will examine Col 1.15-20, where we discover that the Christ of Christmas is the Preeminent Lord.
Context:
- Colossian Church in grave danger of turning from Christianity
- Heresy crept into the church concerning the person of Christ (who He is).
- Heretics denied both the full humanity and deity of Christ.
- Paul’s purpose: Defend Christ (most christological book of NT)
- Central theme: The Preeminence of the Person and Work of Christ (who He is and what He has done)
- Paul begins by offering his traditional prayer / opening encouragements & then immediately turns to the Person of Christ
Here Paul teaches us who Jesus Christ is. Specifically that He is the Preeminent Lord of Creation and the New Creation (creation and redemption).
What he tells us in 1.15-20 are some of the most important truths in Scripture concerning the Christ of Christmas. The apostle tells us “why” Christ is the Preeminent Lord. Let’s examine the 4 reasons Paul gives here:
I. Christ is the Preeminent Lord b/c of His relationship with the Creator (15).
In v. 15, Paul offers 2 assertions about Christ and his relationship with God:
A. “He is the image of the invisible God.”
This word “image” (eikon) is an important word that conveys 2 nuances:
A) Representation
An image represents and symbolizes the object pictured (photograph: not the real, just the image). This understanding is often used of an image on a coin or a reflection in a mirror. It is from where we get our word icon, referring to a statue. Jesus represents God. He is the exact symbol of God.
B) Revelation
When the word “image” is employed in this context, it means more than just a symbol. It also means that the symbol brings with it the actual presence of the object. It is the actual revelation/manifestation of the object it represents.
In other words, Jesus brought God into the human sphere of understanding. Jesus manifested God. This same terminology is used in Heb. 1:3, where the writer states that Jesus is the “exact representation” of God and in John 1.18 where it says that Jesus came to make God known to us.
The point is that in Jesus Christ, the invisible God became visible. He made God known in the earthly sphere of existence. Jesus represented and manifested God to us. He is the perfect and exact manifestation of God to humanity. When God wanted to reveal Himself supremely to humanity, He chose Jesus Christ as His representation. Why? He revealed God completely b/c He is God.
* This truth reminds us of the uniqueness of Christ. The OT prohibited images made in the likeness of God (Ex. 20:3-4). No person was to design a likeness/image of God for worship. To do that limited the concept of God to the image conveyed by the symbol. God would always be pictured/visualized by that symbol (Buddha). This type of imagery was deficient b/c God was bigger than any symbol man could create. God’s people were not to limit their thinking of God to an object or symbol (golden calf incident). God is bigger than our highest thoughts.
* Boy who drew picture of God. Mother: “No one knows what God looks like.” Boy: “They will when I finish.”
No man-made image could represent God. Only Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God. If this is true, what does the Bible mean when it says that humans are created in God’s image. It means that humans reflect the image of God, yet our reflection has been distorted by the Fall (carnival mirror illustration).
Yet, in this passage, Paul says that Jesus was unique in that He revealed/manifested the image of God. In other words, Jesus Christ perfectly reflected the image of the earthly and the heavenly. He was both God and man, the Second Adam and the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the unique revelation of both God and man, the God-man. He embodied the best of both God and man wherever He was.
Whatever makes a person human, Christ possessed it to its fullest extent. Whatever makes God--God, Christ possessed it to its fullest extent. In the incarnation, we have the perfect revelation and manifestation of both God and man.
“He is the image of the invisible God.”
B. “He is the firstborn over all creation.”
From the Arians of the Early Church to the JWs of today, this phrase in v.15 has been employed to try and disprove the deity of Christ.
* Arius was a 4th century preacher from Alexandria who taught that Jesus was a created being (“there was a time when he was not”). His teaching was condemned at the Council of Nicea in AD 325.
* Jehovah Witnesses: “Jesus was the first and direct creation of Jehovah God.” “The bible shows that there is only one God ... greater than His son ... And that the Son had a beginning. Jesus was a created spirit being, just as angels were spirit beings created by God.”
Does this phrase teach that Jesus was created? If not, what does it mean? This phrase points to the preeminence of Christ in His preexistence in eternity and priority in rank. The word used here, which can mean firstborn chronologically, refers primarily to one’s position or rank. The firstborn was the one who had the rights to the family inheritance.
* Jacob/Esau: Esau born first, Jacob became firstborn, rightful heir.
Here, Paul refers not to Jesus as a created being, but as the One who has been given the position of highest privilege, authority, and rank. He is the representative of God and the rightful heir. He is prominent and supreme over all. As we shall see, He is not a creation but the Creator. He is the firstborn of all creation, the One who existed before all, has been given top priority over all.
So we discover Christ’s relationship to the Father: He is the revealer of God, the manifestation of who God is. And He is the prominent One, the firstborn of Creation.
II. Christ is the Preeminent Lord b/c of His relationship with creation (16-17).
As the firstborn of creation, the One who has eternally existed, Christ is supreme over creation. Paul provides the reason Christ is supreme over creation in vv.16-17:
A. He is the Creator. Notice what Paul says in v.16:
1) All things were created “by Him.”
He is the Creator. The Greek phrase here can actually be translated “in Him.” This means that creation and all of its complexities were conceived in the mind of the Son of God. Creation was His idea. This phrase speaks of Jesus originating the details of creation and bringing them into existence with his own spoken word.
In other words, Jesus is the God of Creation. When we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” we have to understand that the Son of God was involved in this creative act. “All things” (in heaven/earth, visible/invisible, etc) were created by Him. Have you ever thought of the vastness of the created universe?
* Description of universe from John MacArthur.
He is the Creator; therefore He is preeminent in his relationship with the creation.
2) All things were created “through Him.”
This phrase means that thru His ability and power, everything came into existence. Jesus is the effective agent of creation.
3) All things were created “for Him.”
This means that Jesus is the goal of creation. Everything that is exists to bring glory unto Him. In the end, Jesus will be glorified in all of creation.
Paul’s argument in this verse can be illustrated by an artist who produces a sculpture: Originally the idea and details of the sculpture come from the mind of the artist. He builds the proportions, the perspectives, the figures, and the emphases desired from the statue. Then, the sculpture is constructed by the artist as he and he alone can “see” it. Finally, those who admire the finished work think of the artist who imagined, planned, and accomplished the work of beauty. As long as the sculpture stands, people remember and appreciate the artist.
In the same way, Jesus is the central point of creation. He is the preeminent One b/c He is the Creator. And in the end, all of creation will glorify Him.
B. He is before all things (preexistent).
Christ is supreme over creation b/c of His preexistence. He is eternally God. He has always existed. He is before all things; therefore, He is given the position of prominence.
C. He sustains all things (he holds them together).
Christ is responsible for the continual sustaining of the universe. He keeps things in order. The Creation has not forgotten His creation. He sustains it. He maintains the universe. Do you understand the significance of the fact Christ sustains our world? (Macarthur article). In Him all things hold together. He is the Sustainer.
Christ is Lord b/c He is preeminent over His creation. He is preeminent b/c He is the Creator, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
III. Christ is the Preeminent Lord b/c of his relationship with the Church (18).
Here Paul grounds Christ’s preeminence in His role as Redeemer. We have seen who He is. He is Creator God. And now we see His work, what He does: He is the Redeemer.
2 statements are made in v.18 concerning Christ’s relationship with the church:
A. He is the head of the body.
There are many images of the church given in the NT that have OT roots: family, kingdom, vineyard, flock, building, bride. But one of the images in the NT that has no OT basis is the image of the body.
The church is a body, interdependent upon each member, but at the head of this body is Christ. As the head, He provides life to the body. He sustains and controls the body. As a matter or fact, w/o the head the body would die. His Lordship over the church demands his preeminence.
B. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
The image here is that Christ is the originator of the church. As a result of His resurrection, the church was born and exists. Therefore, He is the preeminent One. He is the firstborn from the dead.
So, we discover that Christ is the preeminent Lord b/c of His relationship with the church. He is the head and originator of the church.
IV He is the Preeminent Lord b/c of His relationship with the Christian (19-20)
Vv. 19-20 provide 2 reasons why Paul says at the end of v. 18 that in “all things Christ should have preeminence”:
A. B/c of who He is.
Again, Paul takes us back to the fact that Christ is fully God. Paul says, “in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.”
The reference here is to the incarnation. In the Incarnate Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. In other words, the incarnate Christ possesses all the properties, characteristics, and prerogatives of God himself.
This statement means that God was pleased to take human form in Jesus. He was no less God as Jesus, and He continues to be fully divine (dwells is a present tense, ongoing verb).
The babe in the manger was the eternal God! In Him, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells! The babe of Christmas is the eternal God of creation.
B. B/c of what He does.
V. 20 reminds us that the true purpose of the incarnation was reconciliation / redemption. He came to reconcile “all things” unto Himself. In other words, all of Creation will be reconciled to God.
All of Creation was affected by the Fall, therefore, all of creation will one day be restored thru the blood of His cross. All of creation was affected by sin. The world was out of order and needed correction. This was provided in Christ.
Christ is preeminent b/c He has made reconciliation possible. The sinner can be reconciled to God thru the blood of the cross. The enemy of God can have peace with God thru the blood of His cross. He has reconciled us to God.
Christ is preeminent Lord b/c of His relationship with the Christian. He is God robed in flesh, who shed his blood on the cross, so that all of the world might be reconciled unto Him.
The babe of Bethlehem was born and lived to manifest God, to reveal God’s will. What was that will? To reconcile “all things” unto Himself. To see the babe in Bethlehem w/o recognizing His divine purpose of redemption is to miss the true meaning of Christmas.
When the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci went to China in the 16th century, he brought along samples of religious art to illustrate the Christian story for people who had never heard it. The Chinese readily adopted portraits of the virgin Mary holding her child, but when he produced paintings of the crucifixion and tried to explain that the God-child had grown up only to be executed, the audience reacted with revulsion and horror. They much preferred the Virgin and insisted on worshiping her rather than the Crucified God.
But to miss that picture is to miss the true meaning of Christmas. He is the preeminent Lord b/c He is the redeemer, the reconciler.
Who is the Christ of Christmas? He is the preeminent Lord. B/c of his relationship to the Creator (He is God), his relationship to the Creation (He is the Creator), his relationship to the church (He is head), and to the chrisitian (he is our redeemer).
MacArthur:
Everyone of the statements that is made from verse 15-19 is absolutely exclusive. They are true of Him and nobody else. And the sum of them all is at the end of v.18 where it says that He is to have the first-place in everything. No one else is the image of the invisble God, no one else can be the first-born of all creation. No one else can be the creator of things in heaven and earth. No one else is before all things and holds all things together. No one else is the head of the body, the church, the beginning. No one else has all the fullness of God dwelling in Him to the pleasure of the Father. Those are all absolutely exclusive statements. And what they tell us is the Jesus Christ is utterly unique. There is no one like Him. He is beyond everyone else. He is infinitely beyond everyone else. And if we are going to slight somebody at His birthday, better it be a man than the God-man.
Who is the Christ of Christmas? He is the Preeminent Lord. And He deserves our worship and honor and praise. He is Lord.
