Friday, September 18, 2015

Colossians 1:18

Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body of the assembly.  He is the beginning, firstborn out of the dead in order that He should become prominent in status in all things.


Thoughts for Today


First Thought:

Christ is the head of the body of the assembly.  The Greek word here for assembly is ekklesia (κκλησία).  This is the root word for our English word ecclesiastical.  This is why you will often see this word translated as “church.”  However, it should be known that this word literally means assembly.  What Paul is saying is that whenever Christians are assembled, the body of Christ is present and Christ is the head of that body.

When do you feel the presence of Christ the most?  Do you ever feel the presence of Christ deeply when you are gathered in the midst of other believers?

Second Thought:

Paul reminds us that Christ is the firstborn out of the dead.  Here is another place for refuting the Gnostics.  If Christ died and the good god is purely spiritual, why would Christ be raised back into a physical body for the disciples to see?  The fact that Christ was raised out of the dead illustrates that the Gnostics are wrong.  God is not just the good god over the spiritual.  God is the total God over both the physical and the spiritual.

Where have you seen God have authority over the physical world?  Where have you seen God have authority over the spiritual world?  What does it mean to you that Christ was raised from the dead?

Third Thought:

Christ is prominent.  He is above all.  There is none greater than Him.  Nobody will rise to the level of Christ.  But there is another side to His prominence.  By being prominent, Christ gives us something to which we can look.  Christ was raised from the dead.  That is our prominent example.  We know that if Christ was raised from the dead, we can be raised as well.  He is prominent so that we can look to Him and walk forward in life in confidence.

Do you live as thought Christ is prominent in life?  What does it mean to you that Christ was raised from the dead?  Do you live with the eternal perspective that comes from such a thought?


Passage for Tomorrow: Colossians 1:19-20

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