Christ is All
Christ is All
We now come to our fifth and final theme in our study of Colossians: Your Full Salvation. The main idea in this theme, is that the death of Christ on the cross made possible our full redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation. No other sacrifice could do this, nor was any more sacrifice called for. Christ’s redemptive suffering was completely sufficient.
Although there is a strong emphasis, in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, on the divinity of Jesus, Paul also makes reference to the Christ in such a way as to clearly identify him as Jesus the human being. In chapter one Paul refers to “Jesus Christ” or “Christ Jesus” (Col 1:1,4). Thus Paul deliberately identifies the human Jesus as the divine Christ. This leads Paul to understand that the human sufferings of Christ accomplished the divine will.
What was God’s purpose in sending His Son to suffer death on the cross? It was the redemption and reconciliation of human beings. Paul says, "In God’s beloved Son we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Col 1:13-14). "He made peace through the blood of his cross, and you who once were alienated 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" (Col 1:20-22).
So the flesh and blood of Jesus became, in his death on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins. What is more, no other sacrifice could redeem and reconcile humankind, nor was any more sacrifice than this called for.
Paul says that Jesus "wiped out the handwriting that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Col 2:14). While this refers specifically to the law of Moses, it must logically refer to all laws and commandments that would result in our condemnation rather than in our redemption. All "commandments and doctrines of men" (Col 2:22), all that is "philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ" (Col 2:8) —all this he was able to cancel by his suffering on the cross. Moreover, he was able to deliver us from all contrary powers including "the powers of darkness" (Col 1:13). So he was able to erase and nullify all condemnation from these sources. So he made it possible for us to be "forgiven all trespasses" (Col 2:13). The word “all” there signifies the complete sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice.
We commonly use the word “sensible” to mean wise. Certainly Christ was showing his wisdom in suffering death on the cross, because he came out of it triumphant (Col 2:15). However I am using the word sensible in its less common meaning, “perceptible to the senses”. The point is that Christ suffered in a way we are able to perceive. His suffering was in his "fleshly body" (Col 1:22). He shed blood (Col 1:20). He experienced physical and emotional suffering as human beings do. His was a suffering we can easily understand and identify with.
People tend to add to this because they feel that “sensible” suffering would be insufficient and so Christ had to suffer in some way that humans don't experience and can't comprehend. One version of this is that Jesus was separated from his Father who turned his back on his Son. This is apparently based on Psalm 22:1 whilst contradicting Psalm 22:24, "He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him, but when he cried to him he heard." (Psa 22:24).
The affliction of Christ that Paul described, was affliction that he personally was able to identify with and in which he felt he could share. "I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions" (Col 1:24). Paul here has Christ’s suffering as a paradigm and goal for himself. This helped Paul to see purpose in his sufferings and to therefore to endure them, and even live joyfully with them. If Paul saw Christ’s sufferings as beyond human experience, Paul could not have adopted this attitude.
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