Read: Colossians 1.15-23
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: In his commentary on Colossians, Barry L. Callen writes: "The man Jesus is the supreme image of God as God is eternally. Put otherwise, Jesus is the perfect portrait of God. In Him we see the distinguishing marks and present intentions of God. If you want to see what God is like, look at Jesus. If you want to know what humans were intended to be like, look at Jesus. To avoid any impression of a lifeless portrait, however, Paul adds the word "pleroma" (fullness, completeness). Jesus is not merely a good sketch or a helpful summary of who God is and what God is doing. He is the full and complete revelation. God was pleased to have the divine fullness dwell in Jesus the Christ (verse 1.19). There are no rivals to Jesus, no new and fuller revelations of God...Salvation hinges on the Son, both on who He is by nature and what He has done for us in His earthly life, death, and resurrection. The hinge of redemption and the victory over evil do not rest, as some Colossians were claiming, on what we humans can do through denials of the flesh and claiming to have visions of the heavenly realm...Paul affirms that Christ's supremacy is cosmic in scope. He is Lord over both the world of the material creation and the spiritual realm, now and forever. The Christ of God is Lord of all!"
The earliest "affirmation of faith" used by followers of Christ was simply, "Jesus is Lord." While short, simple, and to-the-point, it was and continues to be the most profound and powerful affirmation in all of human history...and we are invited to make it our affirmation of faith today.
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