Lesson #03

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Colossians

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 20, 2010

Lesson #02

January 20, 2010

RETURN TO LIST OF LESSONS

COLOSSIANS 1:14-19
Lesson #03
THE SUPREME DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

• Memory Verse: Col 1:17

• In our study of Colossians chapter 1, we have already learned that the believer has been delivered from the power of sin and the presence of sin. In this lesson we will see that the believer has been delivered from the consequences of sin in Jesus Christ.
  • Because of this marvelous deliverance, we understand that this power of deliverance comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Read Col 1:14-23 The Basic Concept of Redemption

 

• “In whom we have redemption through his blood…”

 

(14)
• One of the many blessings that the believer in Jesus Christ receives is his redemption.
  • What is redemption and what does the word actually mean?
    • The word “redemption” means to deliver by paying a price or a ransom.
      • There are three Greek words all of which apply to the Biblical concept of redemption:
        • =1= (Agorazo) This Greek word means to buy in the marketplace.
          • Man is a slave sold into the bondage of sin. This occurred when Adam and Eve sinned in the book of Genesis. This condition of a sinful nature is the curse on all humans from the time they are born.
            • This is the concept of original sin that places all men in Satan’s kingdom the minute a person is born.
            • Jesus Christ came to this earth to purchase man’s soul from Satan’s kingdom by paying a price.
        • =2= (Exagorzo) This Greek word means to buy inside the marketplace.
          • In other words, a person could buy a slave in the slave market and take him home. This slave was still a slave, he simply had a new owner. His basic condition did not change. When that owner desired, he could return to the market place and sell him to another owner. The person in this condition is forever a slave without hope of freedom.
        • =3= (Lutroo) This Greek word means to buy and to remove him from the slave market by setting him free.
          • In other words, if you bought a slave in the marketplace and then set him free. He would be free forever, never to be sold in the slave market again.
            • This is the condition of the believer in Jesus Christ. He has been bought with a price in the slave market of sin and has been set free forever. This is the redemption of the believer in Jesus Christ.
  • With redemption, there must always be a price paid for that freedom.
    • The price of our redemption in Jesus Christ is the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for us.
• We can understand these concepts best by considering God’s spiritual ledger. In this ledger there is a page with each person’s name at the top. Under each name is a column titled “Debt” and a column titled “Payment”
  • The moment a person is born, the words “sin nature” are put under the title “Debt”. Then every time that person sins, the words, “personal sin” are added to the column marked “Debt”. No matter how hard a person tries to pay his debts by adding good works to the “payment” column, he can never achieve a clean ledger. All his good works are insufficient to pay off his debt.
    • Read Isa 64:6
      • Read Rom 6:23
        • Because the wages of sin is death, man’s condition seems hopeless. (Rom 6:23)
        • Jesus’ death on the cross paid for all the debts of every human, but those payments are not added to a person’s individual ledger until that person receives Jesus Christ into his life.
    • At that moment of receiving Christ, the words, “the blood of Jesus Christ” are written in the payment column. Then immediately the debts in the debt column on his page are marked “paid in full”. Notice that they are not erased because God’s system is just. There must be a payment made for all the debts in that column. That payment of blood is applied to the debts on the page of the believer’s ledger so that God can mark the ledger “paid in full” to satisfy divine justice.

“…the forgiveness of sins.” (14)

• The result of this payment of redemption is that the believer’s sins are forgiven. (14) He is delivered from the consequences of a ledger filled with a long column of debt.
• There are various words in the Bible for sin (iniquity, transgression, error, trespass, unjust, unrighteous, unbelief, illegal, sin, worldliness, etc.)
  • All these words demonstrate a slightly different aspect of sin.
  • The word in verse 14 means to miss the mark by coming short of God’s standard.
• In verse 2:11 it says “in the putting off of the sinful nature…” (New International Version) instead of “… in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh…” (King James Version). The Gnostics believed that man did not need to concern himself with the sins of the flesh because the sins of the flesh did not affect man’s spirit.

• The Deity of Jesus Christ and His Supreme Glory
  • Paul talks about the preeminent nature of Christ in order to refute the false doctrine of the Gnostics.
    • What is the preeminent nature of Christ and what does it mean?
      • The word, “preeminent” means = above or before all others; superior or outstanding. There is no element in this universe outside of His influence.
        • He is the full expression of God and God dwells in Him. (19)
      • It is common for cult groups to deny the deity of Jesus Christ by making him a good teacher, a prophet like any other prophet, or an anointed leader.
      • Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the second member of the Holy Trinity.
        • This means that He is equal with God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
          • Through the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is described as equal with God, the Father. (Isa 9:6 Joh10:30)
      • The preeminent nature means that He is supreme in position, power, and character. He is God in the flesh, fully divine and fully human. There is no other that is the supreme God.
    • What are the false beliefs of the Gnostics in relation to Christ’s deity (in Paul’s day and today)?
      • The Characteristics and beliefs of Gnosticism:
        • Everything physical and material is inherently evil.
        • The Gnostics at Colosse taught that Jesus was not the Lord of creation, but that he was only one of many that came from God. They brought Him down to man’s level of human inadequacy.
          • They believe that Jesus and Christ are two separate beings. Because of that many of the new Bible versions eliminate linking Jesus name with the name Christ.
            • Luk 4:41b

 

• “…thou art Christ the Son of God.”

 

(King James Version)

 

• “…you are the son of God.”

 

(New International Version)
• Joh 4:42b

 

• “…know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world.”

 

(King James Version)

 

• “…know that his man really is the savior of the world.”

 

(New International Version)
• Knowledge is the possession of secrets that would ultimately help the union of the soul of man with God.
  • If you could learn enough, you would be saved, purified, and immortalized. This salvation would give you an escape from the evil of this material world and this material body. The body would be absorbed into “the source”.
• The Gnostics denied the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and the subsequent resurrection of believers. (1Cor 15:12)
• The Gnostics thought that intermediary angels created the earth, but Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the creator.
• The Practice of Gnosticism:
  • Because knowledge is the way to God, only a few people, the secret group called the Illuminati (the illuminated ones), possessed the secrets hidden from the multitude of people. Therefore, those people in this elite group of illuminated people were chosen by god to rule the world.
  • Gnostic ethics took two forms:
    • =1= those that maintained fanatic purity including the denial of sex and other bodily appetites even in marriage.
    • =2= those that practiced unrestrained indulgence in immorality because the spirit of man and the fleshly body had no connection one with the other.
      • The Gnostics included moral evils in their beliefs. (2Tim 3:1-7)
  • The New Testament false doctrine of Gnosticism combined philosophical speculations, atral powers, reverence to angelic intermediaries, legalistic food taboos, ascetic practices and Judaistic teachings. (Col 2:8-23)
  • They delighted in wisdom (1Cor 8:1 1Cor 13:8)
  • Liberalism in sexual matters (1Cor 6:13)
  • They created mythologies and genealogies. (1Tim 1:4)
  • They practiced asceticism. (1Tim 4:3)
    • What is asceticism?
      • It is the practice of strict codes of self-denial and self-punishment of the flesh. They believed that self-punishment of the body made a person more spiritual.
        • The Catholic Church established such Orders of Monks that practiced asceticism. One of the most famous is Opus Dei.
  • They believed in Jewish fables and used the Apocryphal books incorporated into the Catholic Bible.(1Tim 2:18)
    • The Apocryphal books are writings that are not inspired by God.
  • There are other Biblical references to this false doctrine in the New Testament: 1Tim 4:20; 1Joh 4:3: 2Joh 7; Rev 7:24
• What do we learn about the person of Jesus Christ? (13-19)
  • Jesus has a kingdom of light. (13)
  • Jesus is the Son of God. (13)
  • Christ’s blood purchases our redemption. (14)
    • Only God can forgive sins, and yet Jesus forgives sin (14) because He is God in the flesh.
  • Jesus is the image of God. (15)
    • The word, image, means the exact likeness, a representation, or an exact manifestation.
    • Man is also made in the image of God, so how is Jesus different?
      • Man is the image but Jesus Christ is the original, the pre-eminent, of supreme power as the Son of God.
      • Jesus is the likeness of God. He is the firstborn of all creation (15)
        • The title “firstborn” speaks of sovereignty of rank or priority.
        • Therefore, He is not one of many manifestations of God as the Gnostics believed. He is God who created all things for himself. (16)
  • Jesus Christ, the Creator: (17)
    • Through Jesus Christ, the creative forces of this world became operative. He is the agent of creation of everything in heaven and on earth.
    • Paul tells us the details of creation because the Gnostics worshiped angels, as agents of creation including the fallen angels. This was an important part of early Gnosticism and we find that even today many cult groups have a distorted perspective of angels.
    • This universe, and everything in it, is moving toward an ultimate goal to fulfill Christ’s purpose for His glory.
    • Because Jesus Christ is the Creator, He existed before creation. (17)
      • Jesus Christ is the foundation on which everything is built for He holds this creation together.
      • In science, we call this force, gravity, but in spiritual reality the power that holds everything in this universe together is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Jesus Christ is the head of the church. (18)
    • Christ holds the church in His hand. (Rev 1:20)
      • He died for the church and controls it.
      • Because of the preeminent nature of Jesus Christ, we should treat Him as though He is sovereign.
  • Christ is the beginning that existed before the foundation of the world.
    • Therefore, everything is subject to Him.
  • Christ is the firstborn from the dead (18) (1Pet 1:20)
    • This title tells us that He is the one who resurrected from the dead that will never die again.
      • It is this title that makes Jesus Christ preeminent.

 

• “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”

 

(19)
• The word, “fullness”, means = that with which the vessel is filled. In other words, all the attributes that the Bible tells us are the characteristics of God are fully in Jesus Christ.
• The word, “dwell”, in the Greek language is a very specific words that means = to dwell permanently.
  • Some Gnostics believe that Jesus was not God until he was baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit came upon Him.
    • Verse 19 corrects this Gnostic belief.
• Summary and Application:
  • This first chapter of Colossians is filled with the fabulous characteristics of Christ on which are based the entire true doctrine of the Christian faith. It is the preeminent nature of Jesus Christ as explained here in Colossians 1 that explains more fully the Biblical concept of the Holy Trinity than any other scripture.
    • In this chapter, we have discussed the following concepts:
      • The concept of original sin that places every human into Satan’s kingdom at birth.
      • Redemption through Jesus Christ that purchased us from the bondage of sin in Satan’s kingdom.
      • The forgiveness of sin that is evidence of man’s freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.
      • The Deity of Jesus Christ, the Creator of this universe.
        • Supreme in power and authority.
        • Supreme in position.
        • Supreme in His person.
        • Supreme in and over creation
  • How do these truths affect our lives?
    • The believer in Jesus Christ is:
      • …purchased by Christ’s blood.
      • …set free from the kingdom of Satan.
      • …established in the kingdom of God as a member of God’s family.
      • …set free from being a slave to sin.
      • …forgiven of sin through Christ.
      • …promised resurrection through Jesus Christ.
    • These concepts give the believer power in heavenly places to realize victory in your life, but only through Jesus Christ.

HOMEWORK
Colossians 1:20-29
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Col 1:14-19
  • In your personal life of problems, how do the truths expressed in this chapter about the person of Jesus Christ give you encouragement and ultimate victory?
  • In prayer express your thanks and love to God for the resources that He has provided for you personally.

 

• Preparation for Col 1:20-29
• Read Col 1:19-29
  • What do you learn about the work of Jesus Christ?

Memory Verse: Col 1:22