Col. 1:13-22; 2:9-10, The Sufficiency of the Cross (4)

The sufficiency of the cross begins with the sufficiency of the Savior.  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (2:9).  This is actually the conclusion to Paul’s argument in the earlier part of the letter.  The “Son of His (the Father’s) love” (1:13) is our Savior, in whom we have redemption (1:14). 

The sufficiency and fullness of the Son of God is described in two references to the “firstborn.”  In 1:15-17 He is the firstborn over all creation.  He created all things, so all things were created through and for Him.  We know He Himself was not created because, 1) He has the right of the firstborn over all creation; and 2) He existed before all things. In Him all things consist, meaning they continue to exist and fulfill their created purpose.  There is nothing in all the universes outside His firstborn authority.

In 1:18 He is the firstborn from the dead.  Here the Scriptures are specifically speaking of “the body of Christ,” “the church.”  This is the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), those who have been born again.  The Father has made His Son preeminent in all things, both the original creation and the new creation.

This preeminence is related to the fact that the Son was the image of the invisible God (1:15).  The Son is the “invisible God,” but in the working of the Godhead the Son, the Word, became flesh (Jn. 1:14).  Paul does not give the detail in the incarnation as he did in Phil. 2:5-11.  What is important in Colossians is that this One who took on a visible form nevertheless had all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him (1:19; 2:9).  There can be NOTHING added to Christ!

Not only is He our Savior in whom we have redemption; He is our Savior in whom we have redemption through His blood (1:14).  From the very beginning of the sin-problem in Gen. 3 there needed to be a Man (seed of the woman) whose blood would be sufficient to redeem Adam and Eve and all their lineage.  As God shed blood to provide a covering for Adam and Eve, and as God was pleased when Abel shed the blood of a lamb for an offering (Gen. 4), so God began to prepare humanity for the coming of a Savior with all-sufficient blood, a Lamb without blemish.  Those who lived before that Lamb could put their hope in Him.  And those who lived after that Lamb could put their faith in Him.  That Lamb was Jesus (John 1:29).  It pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself by that Lamb who shed His blood on the cross (Col. 1:19-20). 

The result is that 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 (1:21-22).  Thus, Paul’s conclusion in 2:9-10 is not only that Christ is all-sufficient but that you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  The Savior is complete.  His work is complete.  Those who by faith are in Him are complete!