The book of Colossians is rich in the doctrine of Christ. In its pages, you will find that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the God-man who has centrality and supremacy in all things. Here are some facts: the name “Christ” is used 25 times, the name “Jesus” is used 7 times, the words “him” and “his” are used 23 times in reference to Jesus, and the word “Son” is used 2 times in reference to Jesus. Jesus is the focal point of the book of Colossians and—in both his person and work as described in Colossians—he forms the foundation and reason for all things. The book of Colossians was written to make things plain: Jesus Christ is the preeminent God-man over heaven and earth. There's no getting around it (whether we want to or not).
Over the next few weeks, were going to explore these themes in the context of the author, audience and occasion of the writing, as well as Paul's theme and purpose in writing the letter. I don't want to stop there, though. This will be a springboard from which we examine what this means for each of us today. It's not enough to reason these things to be true; we must brush off our hypocrisy, close the gap between who we are and who we appear to be and choose to live in light of what we believe to be true.
