Reconciled in Christ

December 4, 2019 - Wednesday after Ad Te Levavi

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And 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—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister (Colossians 1:19-23).

One of Paul’s purposes in writing here is to emphasize that Christ is first and foremost in everything because He is God in human flesh. He wants the Colossians to be rooted in Christ, the head of the body, the church, rather than in hollow and deceptive philosophy. Based on the focus of his letter, Paul may have been aware that the Colossians were struggling with false teachers, who were denying the deity of Christ, and teaching the Colossians to trust in their own works and minds as a means of making a right relationship with God. Paul, however, continues to proclaim the Gospel he always proclaimed: that mankind is reconciled to the Father by Christ’s sacrifice, through His blood shed on the cross, and that Christ gives this gift of reconciliation to us individually by creating faith in us through the Word - the hope of the gospel which we heard preached.

He writes, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” That is, God the Father wanted Jesus to be both 100% a human being, and 100% divine, God in human flesh, no mere created being or demi-god. Nothing short of the substitutionary death of God could atone for the sin of mankind.

And it isn’t only mankind who needed saving from sin, death, and the devil. The entire creation was placed under the curse because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The blood of Christ atones for our sin, and by it, all of creation is restored to friendship and harmony with God. This peace which Christ has made with us through the blood of His cross will only be fully realized on the Last Day. He has reconciled the world, that is, all creation, by His death and resurrection; make no mistake, that also includes the Christians in Colossae, you, and me, as individuals - all who were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, washed clean of sin by Water and the Word.

The thing that actually does the reconciling is the actual death of an actual Jesus, who is actually God in human flesh, as the actual propitiatory sacrifice for sin. Paul does not mean this in some figurative sense. Christ presents us holy by cleansing us, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “with the washing of water by the word.” It is this way that baptism, as Peter says, saves us: by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This water, in Holy Baptism, is bound and connected to the promise of forgiveness and life by Jesus Himself. It is a way He has ensured that all people, old or young, simple or educated, can receive His Word and promise. He binds the promise to a physical element, water. This should not surprise us, since God has a history of connecting His promises to physical things, such as when by God’s promise the ordinary water of the Jordan River had the power to cure Naaman of leprosy.[1]

Moreover, Paul warns that this gracious gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation can be lost, if one does not remain firmly fixed in place on the basis for our faith, which is the Gospel: Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried, and rose again on the third day for our justification, according to the scriptures; that He ascended into Heaven, and will come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead, something which could happen at any time. There is no prophecy left to fulfill which is holding Jesus back. God the Father has appointed the day, and He alone knows it. Everything has been done that was to be done, including the preaching of the Gospel to all nations before the end, which Paul confirms when he writes, “...which [the Gospel] has come to you, as it has also in all the world…” and also here in this verse, “...which was preached to every creature under heaven…”

He comes to judge the nations,

A terror to His foes,

A Light of consolations

And blessed Hope to those

Who love the Lord’s appearing. 

O glorious Sun, now come,

Send forth Thy beams most cheering, 

And guide us safely home.[2]

[1] 2 Kings 5:1-27

[2] Hymn 58, “O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee”, The Lutheran Hymnal, stanza 9. Author: Paul Gerhardt. Translation: Composite.