The Supremacy of Christ in More than Just Christmas
Colossians 1:15–23 (NIV)
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Christmas time, with all its hymns and liturgy that go with it, always turns my mind to the broader point of who Jesus the Messiah is and why He came to do what He did. It doesn’t start and end in the Christmas narrative, and really it’s not even the beginning either. We can see even from the garden in Genesis 3, that God had a plan to redeem His fallen image bearers (3:15).
This passage in Colossians 1 is a fantastic worshipful passage celebrating the preeminence of the Son over all things, including the intentional plan of reconciling all of creation back to Himself. “To clear away confusion, the apostle states that from the creation of all things to the redemption of their souls, Christ is Lord of all. He is both transcendent Lord of all things far removed from them, and immanent Lord of all things near to them. The One through whom all things were created (v. 16) is also the One who provides peace with God through his blood on the cross (v. 20). He is the head of creation (vv. 15–17) and the head of the church (vv. 18–20)” [GTB].
This is the mystery of the Gospel, which is also the reality of it, makes it the only way that salvation is possible, that Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully divine. We see that throughout Scripture, where one minute Jesus is hungry and thirsty or sleepy because He’s a man, and the next He’s breaking the laws of time and space, commanding creation by healing the sick or calming a storm because He’s the Son of God, the Creator of all things [TESB]. “Here is the awe-inspiring mystery of the God-man, Jesus Christ—he who threw out the stars with his hands also had nails driven through those hands to reconcile us who were once alienated, hostile, and evil (vv. 21–22)” [GTB].
That’s why these verses in Colossians are so beautiful, and why the meaning and beauty of Christmas is intrinsically tied to the significance and world altering events of Easter. There can’t be new life through the Christ-child without the sacrificial death of the God-man. This is what we celebrate on Christmas and it’s the message of the Gospel that needs to remain front and center in our celebrations. Merry Christmas.
There’s a great song based on this passage called “All Things” which can help really cement these truths in your mind.