He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities–
all things have been created
through Him and for Him.
He is before all things,
and by Him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body,
the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile
everything to Himself
by making peace
through the blood of His cross–
whether things on earth or things
in heaven.
–Colossians 1:15-20
Not much to add to that. ALL of God’s fullness dwells in Jesus. He hasn’t divided it up between Jesus and Buddha and Krishna and Mohammed…and us. It is only through Jesus that “He reconciles everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross…”
Jesus was also the creator: “for everything was created by Him…” He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.” This doesn’t leave room for Jesus being an enlightened human being who shows us the way to become divine. No, He is fully God and always has been. He makes us co-heirs with Him by his shed blood for our sins but only through faith in Him.
Once we were alienated and hostile because of our sin. But He reconciles us by His physical body through His death, to present us holy, faultless, and blameless before Him — if we remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that we have heard. (Colossians 1:21-23)
We have to stay grounded and steadfast in the faith and not shift to other beliefs and teachers that tickle our ears. These aren’t my words, this is God telling us this through the inspiration of Paul.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
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