We're going to read verse 18
through verse 22 again, our subject being Christ, the head of the
church, one of our studies from Christ in Colossians. Verse 18,
And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminent. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell, having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated, and enemies in your mind, by wicked works yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight."
Verse 18, he is the head of the body, the church, the first beginning. the firstborn from the dead. I would like to give you an expanded
paraphrase from a pretty good theologian, and that would be
J.B. Lightfoot, and I'm quoting him
now. Not only does he hold this position
of absolute priority and sovereignty over all of the universe, the
natural creation, he stands also in the same relation to the church,
the new spiritual creation. He is its head and it is his
body. This is his prerogative because
he is the source as well as the beginning of its life, being
the firstborn from the dead, thus in all things in the spiritual
order as it is in the natural, in the church as the world, he
is found to have preeminence." Paraphrase of J.B. Lightfoot. Well, this is now the third point
that we are making about Christ, Paul is making about Christ in
the Grand Colossian Epistle. Let's rehearse them very quickly.
Number one, we saw in chapter 1 and verse 15 his relationship
unto God, his closeness and likeness and affinity with God. And it
is expressed like this, he is the image of the invisible God
the firstborn of every creature. Yes, He is the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person. Thus, in the incarnation
God in Christ the Son was manifest in the flesh, for Christ is,
was very God. And then secondly, we looked
in verse 16 and verse 17 of that first chapter of His relationship
unto creation. Not only unto God, but also unto
creation. And this relationship is twofold. A. He created all things in heaven
and in earth, whether they be seen, whether they be unseen,
including the celestial being as we see in verse 16. But in
verse 17, He preserves all things as well, that He has created,
preserving them from reverting again or becoming absolutely
nothing. He sustains them by the Word
of His power. Now this too we confirm from
other places in the Scripture, like that great text in Hebrews
1 and verse 3, upholding all things by the Word of His power. Now, as an aside to all of this,
the saints are preserved in Jesus Christ, according to Jude 1. Them that are sanctified, that
are called, are preserved in Jesus Christ. For, 1 Peter 1
and 5, we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last day." So not only is He preserving
what He has created, He is keeping what He has redeemed and has
created in regeneration. Thus concerning both creation
original, and that created in Jesus Christ according to Ephesians
2 and verse 10, they are each one preserved in Him. Now, let's put two more verses
to this before we get to our subject of the evening. 1 Timothy
4 and verse 10, where Paul says of the living God, that He is
the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. Now, the
word Savior, some take in the sense of a preserver or one who
is able to keep. For as Gil and Owen mention,
if the Lord is the Savior of all men in a spiritual sense,
then he is the savior of unbelievers and apostates and of reprobate,
which of course is a ridiculous thing or a ridiculous conclusion. In fact, Gill said, these words
are to be understood of God's providential goodness, unquote,
and of his temporal deliverances, he later added. in that the Lord
God it is who supports them in their being and supplies them
with the necessity of life. Life and breath and all things. Not the son, but the father. And note a distinction that Paul
makes especially to them that believe. As Owen said, the apostle
treats here of the divine providence of God which is toward all, but
it is especially and in a wonderful way towards them that are believers. Now, the other verse would be
Psalm 36 and verse 6, O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. so that it is the Lord God who
preserves and sustains all things. Now coming to our third study,
our third point, Christ's presence here in relationship unto the
church, unto the body of Christ, unto those that are the elect. Having written of His glorious
relationship in which Christ stands to God the Father and
the universe, and all things therein, Paul now will move on
to declare that blessed relation between the Lord and what he
calls his body, which is the glorious church. He opens in
verse 18 with the same words as in verse 17. And He, which
prepares the way for Paul to detail the position, also the
work of the Savior in relationship unto creation. Having created,
He therefore not only sustained, but He also governs by His sovereignty
and His providence that which He has brought into being and
which He sustained. Concerning the church, It is
brought into being or into close existence to Christ and God by
the death of the Savior who did both redeem and reconcile the
elect unto God. So, with that emphasis in the
back of our mind, let's note His relationship unto the church. He is the head of the body. The beginning. The firstborn
from the dead. having preeminent. My! How Paul exalts the Lord in that
place. Verse 18, and he is repeated
for the sake of identifying the One which is his dear Son, God's
dear Son. Verse 13, being Christ Jesus
the Lord. Because Paul wants to definitely
cement this together or make this connection. His death is
the way whereby the very image of the invisible God and in creation. What's more, the same one who
is the image of the invisible God is also creator, preserver,
sustainer of all things and of life. Here is another of several
metaphors used to describe Christ and His people or His church,
such as when we read in John, He is the Great Shepherd, they
are His sheep. John 10. He is the foundation,
they are the building. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
20 through 22. Again, 1 Peter 2 verse 4 through
verse 6. That great mystery that Paul
writes about in Ephesians 5.22-32, couched there as it was, under
the similitude metaphor or the union of marriage, as of a one
flesh union Christ had with His church. Whereby, in Ephesians
5.30, We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bone,
as Adam said, of his wife Eve. He is the foundation stone. They
are the building. We are those living stone set
in that spiritual building. Even being called in Ephesians
2.21 a holy temple or the holy temple. There is an allusion,
a reference to the temple where God's typical presence was put
and where it dwelled under the old economy. But one of the more
frequent figures of Christ and the church is that one of head
and the body. Head and body. And here in Colossians
1 and verse 18, it is called His body, the church. His body, the church, those people
who are redeemed and called and added unto the church. Now, let's
begin with Paul's word. He is the head of the body, the
church, which emphasizes, or rather with emphasis upon the
word head, which is the word used in reference to a physical
head also, by the way, the actual head, the top part of the body,
where the hairs grow and the brain is encased and such like. The ears are attached and the
eyes are set in it, where you wear a hat. This is a natural
head as we think about it in our body. This is of the first
and natural significance of it. This is the head meant in also
those texts as in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 30. The hairs of
your very head are numbered. In Mark 6, 24 through verse 28,
when the head of John the Baptist was cut off, and brought in a
charger to the wicked old king. His literal head, by the way. But Paul used the same word when
he wrote in Corinthian 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3, the head
of Christ is God. And I look and the word is exactly
the same. The same that he wrote in Ephesians
chapter 5 and verse 23, that the husband is the head of the
wife. It is again the same word that
is used figuratively as in Romans chapter 12 and verse 20, of heaping
coals of fire upon the head of one. Acts 18 and verse 6, Paul
said, your blood be upon your own head. Then again, from the
similitude of the natural head, of the natural body of men in
this world, Christ is declared to be the head of the church. Now, if he is the head and that
of the church, then it follows by natural reasoning that the
church is his body. Yes, they are the members. Members
of His mystical or spiritual body. Bone of His bone and flesh
of His flesh. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27. Paul tells them, ye are the body
of Christ and members in particular. And in that chapter there, he
continually draws on the similitude of the human body operating as
it does by head and by members, to make the spiritual application
then between Christ and His body or His people. He being the head,
they being the body, or the members. Now before we proceed, let's
sum up some places where Christ in the Scripture is called the
head of the church or the body that we might put it with Colossians
1 and verse 18. There is that passage that runs
so parallel in Ephesians 1 and verse 22, "...and has put all
things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things
under the church." Again, Ephesians 5 verse 23, Christ the head of
the church. Ephesians 4 and verse 15, grow
up unto him which is the head, even Christ. And by the way,
he is also called in Colossians 2 and verse 10, the head of all
principality and power. 1 Peter 2 and 7, the stone the
builders disallowed is made the head of the corner. It is a common
and an ordinary thing that a head have a body, and a body have a union with a head, for
thereby is the life-giving operation. Even in the natural body, in
such cases, there is one and only one head to a person. Likewise, there is but one body
in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. But the body consists
in what Paul called many members. In 1 Corinthians 12, and verse
12 and 20, and he notes some such as the foot and the eye,
the hand, the ear, each member in the body serving its own particular
and appointed service for the overall good of the other members
and of the body as a whole. Thus, Christ is the head of the
body, or the church, and in holding to the similitude, there can
be one and only one head of the church, and that is Christ. No
mortal man can be the head of Christ's church, for Christ as
the head of the church is its ruler, is its guide, is the mainspring
of its life, and as one said, is the center of its unity and
the seat of its life." As this Goodwin wrote, There is a two-fold
sin in which Christ Jesus is the head of the church. Put them
in whichever order you desire or whichever one you will. But
A, he is head in respect of union and of his communicating spiritual
life unto those that are his member. Just as He said, I am
the vine and ye are the branches, in John chapter 15 and verse
5, being by divine order, life unionized unto Him as head, all
spiritual life therefore flows into the body or into the members
from Him. If the head were severed, there
would be no life left in the members. It would be cut off
from all of its life and all of its vitality and would therefore
be useless and would wither away. Now it is from the head that
there comes the principle of motion. All motions which are
activated in the members are first of all formed or formulated
in the head. Says Paul in Colossians 2 and
verse 19, from the head from which all the body by joints
and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together
increases. Compare that with what he said
in Ephesians 4, 15 and 16. But then, B, in the second point,
the headship respects His imminency. He is the highest in imminency. He is the highest in sovereignty. He is the highest in honor. He
is over all absolutely, the firstborn, the preeminent, over all, highest
of all. Let us say it again and again. Know what Paul adds in Colossians
1 and verse 18. Who is the beginning? Some say that the word could
be rendered origin. Lightfoot claims the word beginning
has a dual meaning as it is used in the Greek. in regard unto
time, the priority of time, and be the power of origination."
The power, the sovereignty to bring a thing into being. Now the question concerning that
phrase, the beginning, is whether it stands alone as a distinct
designation of Christ, or whether it is part of the next phrase
that follows, the firstborn from the dead. Or, as Paul is saying,
he is the beginning of the church in which he had just spoken.
Certainly the church is dependent on him for her very life and
salvation. And for every blessing, any and
every blessing must flow through the head Christ unto the body. But note further, he calls the
Lord the firstborn from the dead. Or some give the word, first
begotten from the dead is our Lord. And what have we here?
For Christ was not the first one to come out of the grave. He was not the first one to die
and to live again. Now, we have examples of the
dead living again prior to Christ, do we not, in the Scripture?
In fact, where is the record of Him? There is the record of
Him raising free from the dead during the time of His ministry. But still, Paul calls Him the
firstborn from the dead. And though others died and lived
again before Him, yet He is the first to rise by and under His
own power and never to die again. Death hath no more dominion over
him. In Revelations 1 and 5, Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the
dead. I Corinthians 15 and 20. Now
is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of
them that slept, even though He was not the first one to live
again after dying. even in Acts 26 and 23, that
Christ should suffer, that He should be the first, that He
should rise from the dead. Paul, therefore, there is quoting
from Moses. Now, all of those raised before
from the dead by the resurrection of the Lord show that it is possible
for the dead to live again, for some have. And the passage in
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 20 could be read, so they say, Now
is Christ risen, the firstfruits of them who sleep. That is, of
the dead. Now, remember, if you will, the
significance of the first fruits under the old economy and under
Judaism. For there evidently is what Paul
has in mind as he speaks of first fruit. Now the first fruits were
those that were first ripened, those that were ready for the
harvest, those that were first ready for gathering from the
crops. And there are two things that
stand out in connection with the firstfruits of their labor
and of their field. Number one, on occasion, firstfruits
were separated unto the Lord. There were occasions that required,
under the law, that the firstfruits were to be regarded as the Lord. You have examples of that in
Nehemiah 10, 35-44. You'll see it in Leviticus 2,
12, 23. and verse 10. Secondly, the first
fruits marked the beginning of the harvest and that other and
more would certainly follow. The first fruits, therefore,
were an earnest that the full harvest would follow after and
would be gathered in. Now when an Israelite went into
his field or his orchard or his vineyard as the case may be,
to check the state and the status of his crop, and he saw the first
opening or the first ripening fruit or grain or produce, he
rejoiced that a greater harvest was at hand, and soon his pantry
would be filled and his table would be well supplied. So that
the first fruits, therefore, were the evidence that the seed
that had been sown had germinated, had sprouted, and had brought
forth life and more fruit with more to come because of the significant
of the first fruit. Thus I think in calling the Lord
Jesus the firstborn from the dead, the first fruit of them
that slept. He is the antitype of the old
Levitical law of the firstfruits of the land. The firstfruits,
then the harvest. the firstfruits, then the harvest
from the dead, and the firstfruits of them that slept, and so it
shall be." What is the resurrection of Christ but the firstfruits
of them that have also died and that sleep in Christ? Paul discusses
the resurrection at great length in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
And he said, Christ's firstfruits afterward them in their own order
being made alive." It would be, I think, dishonest to make this
only a spiritual resurrection, and that perhaps for several
reasons. But a couple of points on the
resurrection. By the way, resurrection means
to stand up again. A resurrection is a rising up
or a getting up is the resurrection. So to rise from the dead or to
get up. Of those raised prior to the
coming of Christ, it was but the restoration of their natural,
physical life. None of them were glorified,
and sometime they died again. I hope they're not still living.
When Christ was resurrected, He, in great numbers, left the
saints reposing upon their couches of death, save a few which we
read about in Matthew that came forth after the resurrection
of our Lord and appeared unto many in the city. Now, in conjunction
with His death and His resurrection, but not even all the deceit saints
lived again who died prior unto His death when He rose, but many
of them did. showing that He is the first
fruit. But let's come back to Colossians 1.18, the last part,
and verse 19, and the Word, that in all things He might have the
preeminent. Now, Methinks they're right who
say that the last phrase of verse 18 here refers not just to His
being the firstborn from the dead, but of being the whole
paragraph. However, in raising from the
dead, removed any bar to his super headship, and by that paved
the way to his supreme sovereignty over all things in every sense
in every respect, in the fullest, and in consequence of it being
all that Paul has said of Him that He has first and highest
place, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."
Notice in verse 19 Paul adds, "...absolute supremacy is His,
because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness,
think of the word plenitude, of deity should dwell in Him. in the Lord, in the Savior. Now,
for our closing, see now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what a
faulty view so many hold of our blessed Lord and Savior, how
He is even undeified by some and lowered to the level of but
a natural, common, ordinary man. Our Lord is blasphemed, from
the pulpit. He is degraded. He is robbed,
not only of His sovereignty, but in cases of His Lordship. But we say to them, He is Lord
of all. The head of the church, which
is His body.