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.
For it pleased the Father that in Him
all the fullness should dwell,
and by Him to reconcile all things
on earth or things in heaven,
having made peace through
the blood of His cross.
Colossians 1:18-20
Paul is making clear that it is not a pastor, Bishop, Elder, deacon, especially the Pope of Rome Catholicism, some Cardinal, or any other person who is the head of the Church. It is Jesus Christ and Him alone, all others may by the will of God lead the Church, and this only by Scripture. Notice where in the opening Scripture there are words that are in italics. To avoid any misunderstanding I will explain why it is important that those words be added. First, Paul has explained that it is God, the Father who has qualified a person to be partakers of the inheritance (vs. 12), and it is the Father that is the One who sent Jesus Christ to the earth. The Greek in verse 19 speaks of pleasing, "was pleasing" in the Greek and this is a letter, not just verses, and this refers back to the Father for it Him who is being pleased. Don't get tripped up by this for it is proper to supply what we need for understanding as English speaking people.
Jesus Christ is called the "firstborn from the dead" (vs. 18) and due to this all things, on earth and in heaven can now be reconciled to God and this only occurred due to Jesus Christ dieing on the cross. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and you now can be assured that when the Bible speaks of a resurrection of God's children it will occur. There is no way to doubt this unless you doubt that Jesus Christ actually died and rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to make intercession for God's children. There are those who teach and believe that Jesus only fainted, that the resurrection was some ploy by His disciples to prove that what Jesus had said about His rising from the dead to be true. Others attempt to say that Jesus did not live at all, for this is only some religious story. Well, those doubters must address that He did die, and the Jews present saw His death and would not allow someone to tell them different. Jesus could not have survived the spear in His side gushing out plasma, blood, and to live with nails in His feet and hands driven in to Him to affix Him on the stake, this cross, so that He would find it difficult to breathe and in time would die from asphyxiation and then later when He ascended into heaven some 500 people were present and when Paul wrote this if this was not true the uproar would have sounded around the world: you cannot fool the Jews who were a people that even knew if the Torah was not read properly and would address this immediately. You can have confidence that when Paul wrote that Jesus was the firstborn from the dead: He was!
Jesus came to earth to die! Everything else that Jesus did or said was to ensure to the Hebrews, and to us, that He is the promised Messiah, the One who would be the Savior: "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:21-23). It is the Gospel that is to be preached, not some gospel that is other than what the Bible pronounces. The present "so-called" gospel of prosperity, or to seek to have some supernatural gift is not what Jesus taught or any of those writers who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to address problems in the Church. Those problems exist today, therefore, what was written under inspiration apply today, only from Scripture, not man's idea as how to address theological problems. Authentic Christians strive to have a close relationship with Jesus Christ, with God the Father, and with the Holy Spirit and this is done by not following after other gospels and staying close with what the Bible actually teaches. Stay in the word, examine all that is being said, taught, by those in the leader position.
Do what Paul has stated and do not be moved by anything other than the Gospel. Love as God has said to love, aid your brothers and sisters in Christ. Take the Gospel to your world. Be an Authentic Christian. Some will object, Ok! Some will attempt to persecute, Ok! Who cares if you are related to Jesus Christ for your home is with Him in heaven, this life is temporary and we all have the responsibility to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Live life: love God! What else is there until you meet Him in the sky?
Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Let your hands be strong,
You who have been hearing in these days
these words by the mouth of the prophets,
who spoke in the day the foundation was laid
for the house of the LORD of hosts,
that the temple might be built.
Zechariah 8:9
You have been reconciled to God
Richard L. Crumb
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