Preeminence. Colossians 1:18. Not only does our Lord control creation because He is the Creator, but He also governs the church because He has redeemed it at the highest personal cost to Himself. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.” As the Head of the church, He possesses both authority and superiority over it. His authority sustains the relationships among members of a local congregation.
Christ, the Son of God, is also exalted concerning the church. He is the Head of the church, the Prince of life, and the Captain of our salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn in the context of a new beginning. He was the firstborn in that position, the One who starts so others can follow. Our Lord is the Originator of the church just as He is the Originator of creation. He, eternal in His being, acted to produce what did not exist. So, He was the beginning of the church, not its first member. That place of preeminence and authority was established by His supremacy over death, when, as the first to defeat death by His own authority, He emerged from among all those who had no power over it.
He has risen with a glorified body, just like our glorified bodies will be when they are raised from the dead. We have already experienced a spiritual resurrection, and the physical one will occur when our Lord returns, and we are “caught up” to meet Him in the air. Not even angels can do that. Our Lord is the supreme authority over the natural order of all things in creation and the spiritual order of all things in the church.
We should never underestimate the importance of the church because it is the body of Christ. The Sovereign Creator is the Head of the church and provides the leadership, authority, and oversight needed in the universal church. The church depends on Him, the source of its ongoing life. His wisdom, life, power, and authority give meaning to the body and influence the world. He is the beginning of the church, which is also a new creation. He loved the church and started it, opening a way for those separated from God by sin to come to the Father. When a person is saved by grace through faith in Christ, that person becomes part of the body “accepted in the Beloved” Son of God. The “beginning” is not in the sense of time but in new life.
He is preeminent above and before all other beings or things; He is supreme through His eternal existence. He is the Eternal Son who, along with the Father, possesses endless life without any help. All life comes from Him because He holds the keys to both death and life. Everything begins with His authority and power, and in His nature, both life and light are present. In the church, He is the Head from whom the body derives its being, and through Him, it lives and breathes. Without Him, it would be a headless anomaly, a lifeless corpse that could in no way please God. But the Head, in His place of preeminence, can miraculously make the body function as one. In an act of divine omnipotence, the Head rose in a resurrection body from death where He had gone in payment for our sins.
He is preeminent in creation because all things were made by Him and for Him. He is supreme in providing our redemption. His precious blood alone can cleanse us from sin. He is supreme in giving us salvation; He is supreme in the Gospel message He commissioned us to share with the world. He is the One who died for our sins and rose again. Every blessing we receive comes from Him. A glory shines in Him that is brighter than the sun. He offers a fullness to men that we can receive because of what He has done. The body parts find grace for grace when needed; all parts are united through the Head. He gives each part that He has newly created in Christ Jesus a role to fulfill in the body as He leads and guides it to be effective in the world.
He is preeminent in His resurrection as the “beginning” and the “firstborn.” The first place in the universe and the first as Head of the church are some of His positions of preeminence. In nature and grace, He is supreme. No one else compares to Him in His majesty and sovereignty. He is “Lord of all.” When we obey, follow, and serve Him, who is superior in everything, we do so with joy and gratitude for the privilege of being closely connected to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, who loved us and washed us from our sins with His own precious, sinless blood that has cleansed us from all sin.