“And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:18)
Two more huge ideas about the Jesus who is fully God:
1) Paul often described the church – all of us who believe in Jesus and follow him – as a body. We are one thing with many parts. Your part is based on your spiritual gift or gifts. I’m a toe. You’re a spleen. We’re all one body.
Paul now identifies the above-the-neck portion of that metaphorical body. Jesus is our head. We are his arms, legs, toes, and spleens. He is the brain in the skull that signals us to action. Or reaction. Or inaction. It’s his call.
2) He is the first graduate of death. He is the bandleader marching out of the tomb with an army of future resurrectees following from our own graves. Because he lives, we will, too.
He rules. All.
Think: How is Jesus’ supremacy over the universe the same or different from his “headship” over the church? How is a body’s connection to a head different from any random citizen’s connection to a king?
Pray: Thank God that Jesus is the head of the church and the first of all those Jesus-believers who will also be resurrected.
Do: Quickly review the Colossians 1:15-22 in your Bible and make a quick bullet-point list of what it tells us about Jesus as God.