Colossians Part 2: King Jesus

Christ the King: Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. Part 2: Colossians 1:15 – 1:23

Read: Colossians 1:15-23.

• What stands out to you?
• What do you notice?
• What surprises you or grabs you?

*One confusing term here is the use of the term ‘firstborn’ – this does not suggest that Jesus was created, but is a metaphor to illustrate that he holds the status of principal heir, the most honoured within a family, a trail blazer or pioneer.

Watch:

Right Now Media – The Book of Colossians, Louie Giglio, session two

Consider:

Paul writes into a situation where people were teaching that the ‘good’ spiritual realm was too holy to touch an ‘evil’ world, and even the physical body was bad. They taught that people needed a secret spiritual knowledge to escape from this evil world.

• Where might some of this thinking have been adopted into Christianity?
• How does this passage push back against this belief?

In contrast, modern worldviews tend to forget the spiritual world and treat the material world as all there is.

• How does the story of Jesus challenge the way that modern rational Westerners view the world?
• How might we help non-Christians to consider this different viewpoint?

Act:

Spend some time this week meditating on this passage, and try to find some creative way of expressing a part of your response to v.15-20 – whether that be poetry, painting, photography…